Young Folks' 
I ndian a 

GLASCOCK 






\\ 



v NOV 2 5. 1898 1 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Cliap.ES3&> Copyright No 
ShelJLfibSL 



• 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



V 7 1«98 
YOUNG FOLKS' 

INDIANA 

A STORY OF TRIUMPHANT PROGRESS 



WILL II. GLASO >CK 



*^ 



CHICAGO 
TT, IN >R£SMAN AND COMP 






19020 

Copyright, 1898, 
By WILL H GLASCOCK 







(„Vi.o<°ete*;S^<V& 



PREFACE 

This hook is not a connected history of 
Indian. i, but a set ach one com- 

plete within itself. The purpose in the air 
ment of the and the selection of the 

is to show the wonderful progress of the 
State, and represent the lite and natural re- 
sources that have made Mich | >ible. 

These Bimple b1 tre presented t<» the 

young people Of Indiana with the hope that 

they may lead t<> a higher appreciation of 
the w our brave-hearted and b1 

handed pioneers; and that they may arouse a 

r interest in the rich unwritten 
history of our State. 

w II G 



CONTENTS 

CHAP PAGE 

I. In the Mist Land . 7 

II. The Children 01 Naturi . 15 

III. A For 1 in i in W11 in rness 40 

IV. Tin II 1 km (1 [ 1 111 Gri \ 1 North- 

wes i . . . . 5a 

Y. T> (jiisi 11 and "Tippi canoe*' . ;a 

\'I M iking i State 

VII. N 1 <> the Union . . . 104 

VI 1 1. Tm s< booi II n 1 m Hill 117 

I X S< 'Ml < M l> TlMl CUSl "MS . 1 36 

X. Thi Old Log Firi Pi a 1 147 

XI Indian Traci ind Buffalo Traii 155 

XII. Nature's Gifts to Indiana I' 1 j 

XIII. History, Son > Story . 17; 

XIV, From Pack Horse ro Palace Car 194 




In the Mist Land 



HILDREN of the cities walk 
the streets, not knowing that 
the restless ocean once tossed 
its white-caps over the place where their homes 
now stand. They chase* each other over the 
lawns, not caring" that there, ages ago, the 
sea-waves played hide-and-seek and long games 
of tag. Children of the country romp through 
the meadows and coast down the hills, unmind- 
ful of the many dead that lie buried in deep 
graves beneath them. And they gather wild 
flowers in the woods, not thinking that the 
flowers they gather are from the graves of the 
dead, and that the stately trees are monuments 
over the millions that died long ago. 

Wise men tell us that these things are true, 
as they have learned from studying the rocks 
of the different layers of the earth's crust. 
Each layer but the last, has been buried with 
its history, and to these men now tells its own 

7 



8 YOUNG FOLKS 1 INDIANA. 

story, as they study it from year to year. In 
this manner they cateh delightful glimpses of 
the earth's face, as, from age to age, it was 
being prepared for the coming of man. These 
rocks speak eloquently of the changes that have 
come to the earth, and of the great families of 
animals and plants that have lived on the earth 
and have died, and have been buried very deep. 

We are told that, many centuries ago, 
Indiana formed the bed of a dark inland ocean, 
whose depths were lighted only by the dim 
rays of the star fish, and upon whose surface 
there sailed no ships of commerce or of war. 
This ancient ocean was swept by frequent 
storms, and its mountain billows rolled in 
grandeur to the shore, but no one was there 
to hear its roar or fear its fury. The dancing 
waves laughed and chased each other to the 
land, but no human eye was there to see their 
beauty. No swift-winged bird measured its 
width, and no majestic swimmers floated upon 
its waters. It was even more lonely than those 
parts of our great Pacific where few islands are. 

This ocean was teeming with simple animal 
life, which changed as the water became more 
shallow. Animals were there, beautiful in 
form and wonderful in color. Some had shells 
covered with spines and ridges, and tinted with 
rainbow hues. Some were shaped like stars, 
and some like oysters. And some had long 



IN THE MIST LAND. 9 

spiral arms, while others had long snaky bodies. 
These died, and their shells were buried in the 
bottom of the sea, under the soil which the 
wind, the waves, and the waters of the rivers 
deposited there. 

Then the fishes filled the waters. They are 
called fishes, but there do not now live any fishes 
like them. They were both clumsy and ugly, 
very little like the beautiful and graceful fish 
that now enrich the lakes and streams of 
Indiana. They also died, and their bones were 
buried in the sea, where they have been kept 
through many ages, and we now read their his- 
tory in the rocks that were formed in the bot- 
tom of the ocean. 

Long ages passed while Indiana was under 
water, but the ocean above her became more 
shallow as the world grew older. The rains 
fell upon the rocks and hills of the dry land, and 
wore away their sides. The soil thus loosened 
found its way to the sea, and gradually filled it 
up, burying the bodies of all the animals that 
lived in its waters. From the remains of these 
animals, we learn that the waters of this ocean 
were salt, and as warm as the waters that now 
wash the coast of Florida. At last, the bed of 
the ocean was lifted up, and Indiana appeared 
just above the surface, dripping and drenched, 
like a huge animal rising from the sea. 

When the ocean had become stilled after so 



io YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

great a disturbance, only portions of Indiana 
remained above the water. The ocean was 
thus filled with barren, muddy islands. Upon 
these islands, vegetation soon began to grow. 
They were marshy, and the air was moist and 
warm, so the vegetation grew tall and dense. 
Over these marshy islands, swarmed great 
armies of insects, and among the dripping 
weeds and grass slimy snakes writhed and 
crawled. Few animals were there, except 
those that could live both in the sea and on the 
land. Animals of another kind could not live 
in the atmosphere of that time. Trees grew 
out of the marshes, but no birds perched and 
sang upon their branches, nor nested among 
their foliage. The wind sighed among the 
trees, as if it were lonely too, and the jungles 
echoed with the hoarse bellow of frog-like 
animals, as they sent their solemn challenges 
across the muddy waters to others of their kind 
on other islands. 

After the islands were covered with foliage 
and flowers, they were swallowed by the ocean. 
Long years of darkness passed while the beauty 
of the islands was being destroyed, and while 
all that had lived upon them was being buried 
under the mud that settles upon the bottom of 
the sea. Silence brooded over the dark waters 
where Indiana had gone down. 

After the burial service was over, the sea 



IN THE MIST LAND. 1 1 

again divided, and Indiana arose the second 
time from the waters. She was not fair and 
beautiful, like the nymphs of fabled times, 
but was rich in the soil that would bring forth 
an abundant growth of grasses, plants, shrubs 
and trees — a growth more dense than any man 
has ever seen. When the islands were again 
clothed in beauty, they again sank into the 
sea, and all their life was once more buried. 

Many times during a long series of years did 
Indiana rise and robe herself in green, only to 
be overcome by the great strength of the ocean. 
While this struggle was going on between the 
land and the sea, great supplies of fuel were 
being stored away for the world to use after 
many centuries. All the vegetation that grew 
upon the islands was changed into coal, and we 
now have the great coal fields of Indiana. This 
was the Father's way of providing for his chil- 
dren when they should come. 

At length, Indiana arose out of the waves, 
and began in greater earnest to set her house 
in order for the higher life that would sometime 
come to find food and shelter in her fields and 
forests. This time the land arose high above 
the water, and hills and valleys were formed. 
The lakes settled into their basins, and the 
rivers, which were shallow, slow, and muddy at 
first, found deeper channels, their waters became 
clearer and went more hurriedly to the sea. 



12 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Vegetation of all kinds sprang up abundantly, 
for the climate was still much warmer here than 
it now is. Deep forests grew over the coal beds, 
and stately trees arose where once the reptiles 
crawled in the oozy mud. The atmosphere 
became pure, and animals of many kinds 
roamed through the forests, and galloped over 
the plains. Birds, large and small, were on the 
lakes and in the woods, and fishes, such as we 
now know, were in the lakes and rivers. 
Indiana, with her sister states, now seemed 
ready for the coming of man, but the prepara- 
tion was not yet complete. Another period of 
darkness awaited her. 

The climate of North America was changed, 
and a long age of severe winter enwrapped its 
northern half. Fierce snow storms swept this 
frozen land for very many years. The sun strug- 
gled hard to melt the snow and beat back the 
advancing winter, but in vain. His rays were 
just warm enough and strong enough to soften 
the snow, so that it would pack into solid ice. 
Thus the snow fell and ice was formed until 
much of our continent was covered with an 
ocean of ice several thousand feet in thickness. 
The lakes and rivers were frozen to their 
depths, the valleys were filled with ice, and 
every tree and stone was held in the grasp of the 
icy winter that was to continue very many long 
years. At this time the northern portion of 



IN THE MIST LAND. 13 

our continent was lifted up by some mighty 
hidden force, and the great ice ocean began to 
move slowly southward, with a power too great 
to be resisted. Giant rocks were torn from 
their firm resting places, and were borne lightly 
onward in the arms of the glacier. Forests 
were swept away, and the scars where the trees 
once stood were covered over with the "drift" 
of the glacier. Even the hills that dared to 
stand in its way were hewn down, or were left 
cut and scarred after the attack. Part of this 
glacier crept down over Indiana, and destroyed 
all animal and vegetable life, or drove it farther 
south. Before the slow-moving ice-field 
reached the Ohio River, the sun began to beat 
hard upon it. In that cold, dreary age, a great 
battle was fought upon Indiana soil. The sun 
struggled long against the advancing glacier, 
and ofttimes drove it back, leaving the country 
a dreary waste, but again it returned to the 
charge, and the struggle was renewed. Where 
the two forces met, there the mists hung heavy 
over our state, just as the smoke of battle 
hangs low over two opposing armies. At 
length a warm season set in, and the glacier 
was compelled to retreat to its northern home, 
where it has ever since remained. 

It retreated northward long before the coming 
of man, but in its coming and going, it made a 
history that is easily read. Its presence and 



14 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

power are seen in the changes which it brought 
to the country over which it passed. Throughout 
Indiana we find the woods and fields sprinkled 
with sand and spotted witji stones, from mere 
pebbles in size to those weighing many tons. 
The soft stones were ground to powder and 
sprinkled in the path of the glacier, while the 
harder ones were rounded and polished, then 
left lying where the glacier had been. These 
stones, brought from the north and distributed 
over our state, show us where the sun battled 
against the ice, just as the scattered shot and 
shell mark the battle-field where two armies 
contended for the victory. Rugged cliffs have 
been formed into gentle slopes, and the smaller 
hills have been leveled, while the larger ones, 
with their sides ploughed and scarred, "remain 
to mark the time of their former greatness." 
The valleys formed before the ice-age have 
been filled, and other valleys have been hol- 
lowed out, lakes have been buried, and new 
basins have been ploughed out by the action of 
the glacier. The waters from the melting 
glacier rushed away toward the sea in icy tor- 
rents, washing out deep valleys. These val- 
leys are dry now, but they still tell us of the 
cold rivers, whose waters, filled with huge blocks 
of ice, found their way through them back to 
the ocean. One of these begins near Indian- 
apolis, and continues southward to the Ohio 



IN THE MIST LAND. 15 

River, showing where the ice-torrent rushed on 
between high banks and through its broad basin 
toward the sea. During the wintry age, all the 
lakes of northern Indiana were frozen to the 
bottom. The glacier passed over them, and 
securely sealed many of them with sand and 
rock. When a warmer period returned and 
melted the ice in these frozen lakes, the water 
had no way to escape from its prison cell. 
Sometimes, now, in sinking deep wells, the 
drill strikes one of these lakes which were 
buried under the "drift" of the glacier, and 
the water rushes to the surface, seemingly 
happy to make its escape. In many cases, 
old river beds have been filled up by the 
action of the glacier, and new ones furrowed 
out, through which flow the rivers of the 
present time. 

The animals that lived north of us before the 
period of the glacier, either perished in the cold 
of the long winter, or retreated south through 
Indiana to warmer homes, where they grew in 
number until the ice had gone and a warmer 
climate had come, then returned northward. 
Some did not go all the way back to their 
northern homes, so we dig from the earth skele- 
tons of those that at one time made their homes 
much farther north. Some gradually changed 
their manner of living, and, as a result, we 
find their kindred still with us. Those that 



1 6 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

lost their lives among the snows of the ice-age 
were buried under the glacier, and we now 
read their history in the rocks where they were 
buried. 

The plants were not so swift of foot as the 
animals, so great numbers of them were frozen 
and buried under the snow and ice. How- 
ever, some of them escaped to warmer places, 
and there lived until the close of the long ice 
period. When they felt the breath of the 
oncoming glacier, they leaned toward the sun to 
catch its warmth, and in this way dropped their 
ripened seed farther south. From these seed 
grew plants, which also leaned toward the sun 
and dropped their seed in the same manner. 
In this way, many plants made the journey 
through Indiana and other states, to comfort- 
able homes in the south. It was a long 
journey, and they traveled very slowly, so 
many of them perished in the snow, and their 
remains are found scattered along the wayside 
where they fell. 

When the long winter was over, most of the 
plants that had been driven south grew restless 
and longed to return home, so many of them 
went northward again. The journey to the 
north was made much more quickly than was 
the southward journey. The winds and the 
birds carried the seed and dropped them by 
the way, where they grew and bore seed, which 



IN THE MIST LAND. 1 7 

were carried still farther north. While they 
were absent, the cold zone had crept farther 
south than it was before they left, so they did not 
return as far north as they had lived. During 
their long stay in the south, some of them got 
used to the warm climate, and did not care to 
return. These we still find living in the 
south, though much changed in form and color. 
Others became changed in nature on their way 
north, and finding places that offered them 
pleasant homes, settled there, and there we 
find their descendants still living. 

When the glacier retreated to its cold north 
home, it left the surface of Indiana almost the 
same as it now is. The wind and the rain have 
gradually lowered the hills and, aided by the 
falling leaves, have shallowed the valleys, but 
no great changes have since come to it. Forests' 
of trees such as we now have, again appeared. 
The waters were populated with fishes, such 
as we now take from our lakes and streams. 
The woods and prairies were robed in beauty, 
such as they now wear in summer. The 
large, fierce-looking birds gave place to birds 
just like those we now find wading in the 
streams and marshes, swimming on the lakes 
and rivers, and singing in the woods and 
orchards. Other animals also came and made 
their homes in the forest and on the prairies. 
Among these were many that are no more 



1 8 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

found in America, except when they are 
brought here from other countries, and some 
are not now found alive anywhere in the world. 
Buried deep in the soil of Indiana are found 
the remains of wild horses that at one time 
galloped over our prairies. This causes us to 
wonder what became of them, for we are told 
that there were no horses found in America 
when Columbus discovered our continent ; that 
the horses we now have are the descendants of 
those brought over from the old world, the 
first of which came from Spain to be used by 
the Spanish soldiers in their wanderings in 
search of wealth and perpetual youth. Some 
men venture to say that this might have been 
the first home of the horse and that in some 
way he was carried to the old world, where he 
was groomed and trained until he became more 
beautiful and more intelligent than he was in 
undiscovered America. Then, after many 
centuries had passed and almost all his history 
had been destroyed, he was again brought to 
America and permitted to make his home 
where his ancestors had lived. Wild oxen and 
bison must also have sheltered in our forests 
and grazed on our prairies, for their skeletons 
have been found in Indiana soil. The tapir, 
with his long nose and small eyes, doubtless 
often bathed in our rivers and sought food 
and shelter in the dense forests of our state. 



IN THE MIST LAND. 19 

as the remains of these animals are found 
imbedded in the stone near the surface of the 
ground. 

The mammoth and the mastodon are the 
largest animals that ever made their homes in 
Indiana. And, so far as we know, they are the 
largest animals that ever lived in any state or 
country. Some men say that these animals 
were here before the ice-age, while others claim 
that they lived here at a much later period, — 
that they were still here when man came upon 
the earth. It is probable that man never saw 
one of these huge beasts alive, and it is just as 
well that he never did, for he certainly would 
have lived in fear of them. A strange and 
thrilling sight it would have been to see one of 
these mighty beasts striding through the 
unbroken forests of our beautiful state, twist- 
ing off the branches of trees with his powerful 
trunk, while the earth trembled under his 
heavy tread. How other animals must have 
hurried to their hiding places when he shook 
the forest with his dreadful roar! Both of 
these animals were related to the elephant, 
but the mammoth was covered with long, coarse 
hair, and with soft, short wool, showing that he 
was prepared to live in a cold climate. The 
skeletons of more than twenty-five mammoths 
and more than thirty mastodons have been 
found in Indiana. From this we must con- 



20 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

elude that they were plentiful in our state a 
very great many years ago. 

Indiana is now ready for the coming of man, 
and he came, and doubtless lived here a great 
many years, but when he passed away he left 
little record of his life. From the mounds he 
builded, we call him the mound builder. In 
these mounds have been found numberless 
skeletons, from which we can learn of his size. 
From the arrangement and the contents of the 
mounds, we can know something of his habits 
of life. And, from the number and size of 
the mounds, we can judge of the number of 
these people that lived in our country and 
state. From the pipes and ornaments taken 
from their graves, we can understand some- 
thing of their home and social life. Some 
ideas of their religion are also gotten from 
the arrangement and contents of their mounds. 
These things we can but dimly know, for Time 
has covered their history with a mist, as he 
has covered their mounds with trees and with 
flowers. 

These mounds are scattered all over the 
state, showing that the whole state was inhab- 
ited by their builders. Some of them have cost 
their builders much labor. They are large, 
and have been built of soil carried a consider- 
able distance. As this people had nothing but 
rude baskets in which to carry the soil, it must 



IN THE MIST LAND. 2 1 

have required a great many men a long time to 
build them. Each of these mounds has its 
story, which men have been eager to learn. 
The weapons of war found in some of them 
lead us to believe that their builders were a 
warlike people. Some of the mounds speak 
vaguely of a people who were peaceful, and 
obtained a living by farming in a simple way. 
Some open toward the east, and from this fact 
men declare that they were a people that 
worshiped the sun ; that the mounds opened 
eastward in order that the people might look 
forth each clear morning and see the sun just 
rising upon the beautiful new world. There is 
a whispered story that some of these people 
were cannibals, who killed and ate each other. 
This may not be true, but, in a few of the 
mounds, there have been found heaps of bones, 
where are mingled the bones of men and those 
of other animals. Around and over these are 
scattered charcoal and ashes. Out of this the 
story grew. Great numbers of the mounds 
have been used only as burial places, where 
the bodies are buried singly and in groups, 
some sitting, with strings of bears' teeth 
around their necks as a mark of bravery while 
living. Some are arranged with heads toward 
the north, some toward the east, and some in 
circles, with the feet all pointing toward the 
center. But very few of these mounds contain 



22 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the skeletons of children. Along the larger 
water-courses of the state, the mounds have 
been used as forts, with look-out stations at the 
corners, where the soldiers kept watch while 
the people slept, lest the enemy should come 
upon them unseen, either by land or by 
water. 

Near the entrance to a large mound in the 
southern part of the state, there was the 
skeleton of a mound builder. He seems to 
have been about fifty-five years of age, and five 
feet four inches in height. Scattered about 
him were the rude pots and dishes of the 
kitchen. One side of the skull was crushed in, 
as if he had been struck with a stone hammer. 
It is supposed that a crime had been committed 
there in the dark silence of the forest, and that 
the criminal had fled from the place of his crime 
as Cain fled after he had killed his brother. 
The people may have been superstitious and 
feared to live where a murder had been com- 
mitted. 

Some of these people may have been but half 
civilized, and some may have been savages, 
but their works show a much higher degree of 
skill and intelligence than we find in the works 
of the Indians. The lines, circles and squares 
found in their fortress mounds indicate that 
they knew a great deal about civil engineering. 
Stone hammers, hatchets, spades, hoes, axes, 



IN THE MIST LAND. 23 

and arrow-heads made by them, show how skil- 
fully they could use the few imperfect tools 
they had. From copper they also made beads, 
rings, bracelets, and other ornaments, many 
of which have been found in the mounds of 
Indiana. Pipes, beautifully carved and shaped 
into the form of birds and the heads of other 
animals, have been found in great number. 
They had mortars and pestles for grinding 
nuts. These were their mills — very different 
from those we now find in our large cities. 
The mortars are about five inches in diameter, 
and the same in depth. In these were placed 
the grain and nuts, which were ground into 
flour by means of- the stone pestle. We do not 
know whether the men or the women did the 
grinding, nor do we know how it was prepared 
for the meal after it was ground. We cannot 
keep back the wish that they had left us more 
of their history. 

Long ages passed while Indiana was sleep- 
ing under the sea, and other centuries came 
and went while she struggled against the 
waves; then, during a long age of winter, she 
battled against the slow-moving ice -river from 
the north. During all this time she was fill- 
ing her many store-houses with abundant treas- 
ures to enrich the life of man when he should 
come and seek for them. The people who first 
came knew but little of the land to which they 



2 4 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA, 



came, and told no story of the land they had 
left. They builded mounds, buried their dead, 
then departed through the mist that overhangs 
their history. 




<! *^. 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 25 



II 

The Children of Nature. 



THE arrow-heads and stone hatchets, picked 
up in the fields and woods by the boys 
and girls of Indiana, suggest many things in 
connection with the wild, roving life of the 
American Indian. Each one has its history. 
Some have gone swift and silent to the heart of 
the grazing deer; some have spent their force 
and fury in the breasts of other red men ; and 
some have stricken down the white settlers in 
their homes and fields. A shudder creeps over 
us when we hold one of these wicked looking 
weapons in our hands and wonder what awful 
deeds it may have been made to do by its sav- 
age owner. 

When we read the early history of Indiana, 
filled with stories of Indian cruelties, conspir- 
acies and wars, it is but natural to think that 
our state was once the home of the red man. 
Even the name Indiana carries with it such a 
suggestion. However, it was not the perma- 
nent home, but only the hunting grounds over 
which the Indian warriors and hunters roamed. 



26 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

In our forests there was much game, and fur- 
bearing animals were plentiful. On the rivers 
and lakes there were geese and ducks in abun- 
dance, and the waters were teeming with fish. 
Indiana was thus a paradise for the Indian 
hunter. It was very much like the happy hunt- 
ing grounds to which every Indian hopes to go 
after death. Here they spent many happy 
hunting seasons ; here they fought to beat back 
other hostile tribes and the advancing whites ; 
and here, too, they robbed and murdered the 
defenseless settlers. 

It is true, that when the first white man 
came to Indiana there were several Indian 
tribes located in different parts of the state, 
each claiming the lands over which it hunted. 
The Piankashaws occupied that part of the 
state lying immediately south of the center and 
east of the Wabash River; the Wyandottes 
were south of the Piankashaws; the Shawnees 
extended east of the Wyandottes into Ohio; 
the Weas were along the Wabash, near Lafay- 
ette ; the Twightwees occupied the northeastern 
part of the state; the Delawares were in the 
east-central part; the Pottawattamies were 
found throughout the northern part of the 
state; the Kickapoos lived in what is now 
Warren and Vermillion counties; and the 
Miamis occupied the present counties of Miami, 
Wabash, and Allen, thus holding the key to 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 27 

the lands along and beyond the Father of 
Waters. 

The Indian fields and gardens were along the 
streams where was found open ground. Here 
the women tilled the soil, raised maize, 
squashes, cucumbers and melons. They also 
kept the birds from the fields and gardens. 
They made the canoes, and in season jerked the 
venison, and gathered the wood and corn. 
They were real heroines of the forest. They 
were devoted to their husbands, and for them 
would suffer any hardship. Their silent love 
for their children was intense, and the fearless 
war spirit that made the Indian brave a terror 
to his enemies was greatly due to the training 
given by these Indian mothers. The husband 
supplied the meat and clothing. His task was 
an easy one, as game, fish, and fur-bearing 
animals abounded. The hides of the fur-bear- 
ing animals were also the chief articles of com- 
merce. 

These children of nature took no account of 
the days. The return of the snow and the first 
blooming of the flowers told them of the 
changes of the seasons, and the southward 
flight of the birds told them of the approach of 
the hunting time. They knew the weather by 
studying the face of the sky and the movements 
of the clouds. They threaded the wilderness 
unerringly, guided by the sun by day and the 



*8 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



stars by night. When the sun and stars were 
hidden, they were still directed aright by the 
thickened moss and bark on the north side of 
the trees. 

At the opening of the seventeenth century, 
the Algonquins occupied a vast region of North 
America, including Indiana. Their language 
was the richest and most generally spoken of 
any of the Indian languages. At an earlier 
time, they lived in the far east. When the 
early civilization began pressing upon them, 
they left their familiar haunts, and sought in 
the south and west new hunting grounds and 
new lands on which to plant their corn. Thus 
they came to Indiana, filled with a spirit of 
freedom and of restlessness. The most power- 
ful and most heroic of the Algonquin tribes 

were the Miamis. 
They were well 
formed, of medium 
height, swift of foot, 
and fond of racing. 
They were a tribe of 
statesmen, warriors, 
and heroes. From 
this tribe came Little 
Turtle, the most 
famous of all Indian 
chiefs. 

He was a remark- 




THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 29 

able man for any age and any place, but when 
we remember that he was untaught except by 
the forces of the wilderness, we must respect 
even more his wonderful wisdom and power. 
He had great courage and unusual sagacity. 
Under all conditions, he was dignified and cour- 
teous. While comparatively a mere boy, he 
became a leader among his people, and held their 
confidence until his death. As a warrior, it is 
said that he might well be classed among the 
great generals of civilization. He defeated 
General Harmar on the Miami River in 1790, 
General St. Clair near the Miami villages in 1791, 
and almost defeated General Wayne at Maumee 
Rapids in 1794. He died in 181 2, and was 
buried with great ceremony at Fort Wayne, 
near where he had met his first defeat. 

It is said that, in the early history of Amer- 
ica, the Miamis were migrating eastward when 
they met the revengeful Iroquois, who had felt 
the pressure of civilization in the Atlantic 
Plain, and were seeking hunting grounds 
farther toward the setting sun. They were 
driven back by their more powerful enemies, 
and finally settled in the Ohio valley. This 
was the chief highway to the lands lying farther 
west. Through this highway the Iroquois 
tried many times to open up a war path to the 
west, but were as many times driven back by 
the Miamis. Thus the rich hunting grounds of 



30 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the Ohio valley were often converted into 
battlefields, on which these two great tribes 
contended. Doubtless, many of the battles 
between these rival tribes were fought on Indi- 
ana soil, and it may be that some of the arrow- 
heads and tomahawks that we now find are 
relics of these battles that occurred in the 
silence of the forest. 

Out of this struggle grew the Miami Confed- 
eracy, which had its seat in Indiana. In 1765, 
the Miamis formed a league of a number of 
tribes in order to keep back the Iroquois, who 
had joined with them other tribes, and were 
continually attacking the Miamis. In Indiana, 
the Confederacy included the Ouiatenons, at 
Post Ouiatenon, near Lafayette, consisting of 
three hundred warriors; three hundred Pianka- 
shaw warriors, on the Vermillion River; and 
two hundred warriors of the Shockney tribe, 
north of Vincennes. 

The great explorer, La Salle, established a 
post on the Mississippi, where the city of St. 
Louis now stands, and drew around him a 
number of Indian tribes to protect the interests 
of the French nation. At his invitation in 
1682, the Miamis withdrew from Indiana and 
joined La Salle's settlement, and did not return 
until 17 1 2. The Iroquois took advantage of 
their absence and overran the territory as far 
west as the Mississippi. They then set up a 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 3* 

claim to all the territory over which they had 
wandered, but the Miamis would not allow their 
claim. 

At one time the Miamis claimed almost all 
the territory now within the limits of Indiana. 
About 1755, they permitted the Delawares, the 
Shawnees, and the Pottawattamies to settle 
within their territory. These were three of the 
most powerful and warlike tribes of the west. 
Soon after they had settled upon the lands of 
the Miamis, they set up a joint claim to all the 
lands upon which they had settled. When the 
United States government attempted to buy the 
lands of the Miamis, these three tribes said 
that the Miamis could not sell without their 
consent. Tecumseh, the chief of the Shaw- 
nees, held that the lands belonged to all the 
tribes in common, and that no tribe could sell 
without the consent of all. It was on this 
ground that he complained so earnestly to 
Governor Harrison against the purchase of 
lands lying along the Wabash. 

Fort Wayne was one of the most important 
and highly prized posts of all the west. It was 
surrounded by rich woodlands, and was the 
natural gateway both to the south and west. It 
was a place dear to the Miamis. On the banks 
of the neighboring streams, many years ago, 
they warmed themselves in the sun, hunted the 
wild game in the forest near by, and from here 



32 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



went forth to battle against the whites, and 
also against their Indian enemies. Here was 
heard the eloquence of the Indian orators, and 
here treaties were made and the peace-pipe was 
smoked. Here the woods echoed with songs 




CHIEFS IN COUNCIL. 



of war and songs of pleasure, and here nights 
were spent in dancing to strange wild music. 

A story is told in connection with the history 
of Fort Wayne which shows the revengeful 
nature of the Miamis. About the time of the 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 33 

battle of Tippecanoe, a reckless man came into 
the Miami country and built him a hut on 
Cedar Creek. He hated the Indians, and often 
spoke most unkindly of them. He thought 
there was no good, but a great deal of evil, in 
them. One night his horse strayed away, and 
he immediately accused the Indians of stealing- 
it, and declared he would get even by killing 
an Indian. He was warned against doing such 
a rash thing, but he was very determined. 

One spring day, while he was wandering- 
through the forest with his gun on his shoulder, 
he saw a lone Indian seated on the bank of the 
river, fishing. He thought that was his oppor- 
tunity. The birds could not tell, there was no 
one else near, and the Indians would not under- 
stand the wind, though it should whisper its 
secret and moan over the dark deed, so he shot 
the Indian. He then filled his blanket with 
stones, and rolled the body into the rushing 
waters of the river. But there was a human 
eye that saw. From a dark clump of bushes, 
the Indian's squaw saw the murder of her hus- 
band. She made no outcry for fear she would 
also be killed, but she told her people, and 
they said, "White man must die." 

Spring passed away, the horse was found, the 
summer came and went, autumn came, and one 
morning, when the frost was on the grass and 
trees, the hut of the murderer was found in 



34 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

ashes. He and his family were gone, and none 
but the avengers and the Great Spirit knew 
how their lives had been ended. 

A number of the Miamis still live near Peru, 
in Miami County, where they have adopted 
many of the customs of civilization. Some 
of them are direct descendants of Godfroy, 
the last war chief of the tribe, some claim 
kinship with the famous Little Turtle, and 
all take pride in the heroic deeds of their 
ancestors. 

The Delawares were next in rank to the 
Miamis, and were among the most interesting 
of all the tribes. They were less warlike, and 
yielded more readily to the influences of civili- 
zation. There is a tradition among them that 
at one time they lived in the far west, from 
which they migrated to the far east. They 
drove the other tribes out of the Atlantic plain, 
and took possession of the choicest lands. Here 
they lived for a long time. We do not know 
from what part of the country they came, but 
history tells us the) 7 were found in the Atlantic 
plain when America was discovered, and that 
they joined themselves with the Iroquois 
against their white enemies. Afterward they 
quarreled with the Iroquois, and were con- 
quered by them and treated as "women" — 
were not allowed to take any part in the coun- 
cils. They were finally driven beyond the 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 35 

mountains and settled in Ohio, where they 
again became an independent and powerful 
tribe. Upon invitation of the Miamis, some 
time after 1751 — histories do not agree as to the 
date — they removed from their home in Ohio 
and settled along the banks of White River, in 
the northeastern part of our state. Here they 
remained- until their final removal beyond the 
Mississippi by the government. In 1818, they 
ceded all their lands in Ohio and Indiana to the 
United States government, for sufficient and 
comfortable homes beyond the Mississippi. 

The Shawnees were the fiercest and most 
warlike of all the Indians of the Ohio valley. 
They came from Georgia, and settled in Ohio, 
where Tecumseh and his prophet brother were 
born. They were always at war. In 1795, 
they lost nearly all their lands in Ohio, but by 
permission of the Miamis they had secured 
new hunting grounds in Indiana. We become 
well acquainted with their warlike spirit 
through their noted chief, Tecumseh. 

The Piankashaws, Weas, Twightwees, and 
Shockneys, were very weak tribes. They had 
gone to war so frequently with the more power- 
ful tribes that, when the white man came to 
Indiana, he found them greatly reduced in 
number, though not humbled in spirit. Their 
glory was but a memory of their many battles 
of the past. 



36 YOUNG FOLKS 1 INDIANA. 

The Pottawattamie s were at one time a very 
powerful tribe, but the) 7 were so fond of war 
that they were constantly losing their warriors. 
They were hunters as well as warriors, and 
cared but little for agriculture. They were 
always quite willing to sign treaties, when it 
was to their advantage to do so, and were just 
as ready to break their treaties and take up the 
tomahawk at every opportunity. In the con- 
flict between the colonies and the mother 
country, they fought on the side of England. 
They were in the battle of Tippecanoe, and 
followed Tecumseh to his death on the River 
Thames. 

They sold their lands to the United States in 
1832, and moved farther west, but were per- 
mitted to hold their surrendered lands as their 
hunting grounds for a number of years after- 
ward. The game on the prairies and in the 
forests, the fur- bearing animals around the 
lakes, and the ducks, geese and gulls on the 
waters of the lakes, were very inviting to hunt- 
ers such as the Pottawattamies were. Even as 
late as 1840, they would come in large num- 
bers into their old territory, with their women, 
children, dogs and ponies, would pitch their 
tents and remain while the hunting season 
lasted. When the hunting season was over 
they would again return to their new homes. 
Each year the number grew smaller, until 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 37 

finally none returned. The presence of the 
white man had driven away the game and 
destroyed the hunting grounds of the Pottawat- 
tamies. 

At one time almost a thousand Pottawat- 
tamies visited their old burial grounds. Their 
dead had been laid away in the quiet of the 
forest, before the coming of civilization. They 
found new and painful conditions. The graves 
were unwatched by any friends, and were no 
longer in the depths of the wood. Farms were 
being cleared, and the forests through which 
they had often followed the deer, were fast dis- 
appearing. Farm houses were standing on the 
very spots where, man}^ times, they had kindled 
their camp-fires. What feelings must have 
filled the hearts of these wild people as they 
gazed upon the changes that had come to their 
former hunting grounds, and then turned their 
faces westward for the last time, leaving the 
graves of their friends to the care of their 
enemies! 

The pioneer histories of Indiana are full of 
the suffering of the whites at the hands of the 
Indians. Homes were destroyed in a night — 
the men were tortured and murdered, and the 
women and children were carried into captivity 
and cruelly treated. Sometimes the women 
became the wives of the Indian warriors. One 
story is told of a woman who became the wife 



3 8 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

of an Indian. Years afterward she was found 
by her friends, but would not return with them 
to civilization, and when carried back, made her 
escape and returned to her wild life. 

Another story is told of the rescue of a child 
that had been carried away by the Indians nine 
years before, when it was very young. Most 
of the friends and all the relatives of the child, 
except its grandmother, had died under the 
knife and tomahawk of the Indians. The child 
was brought to its grandmother, who tried to 
cause it to remember her and the home from 
which it had been taken, but everything she 
said seemed strange to it. The grandmother 
wept that the child she had so often rocked to 
sleep had entirely forgotten her. Then a French 
officer named Bouquet said, "Sing the song you 
used to sing, " and, with trembling voice, she sang 
as she had years before sung to the child. For a 
moment the child listened, then remember- 
ing, rushed into her grandmother's arms, and 
they wept together. Even the hearts of the 
listening Indians were touched by the scene. 

The Ohio valley was to the tribes that pos- 
sessed it as a land of promise. The Miamis 
had come from the west and wandered far 
toward the rising sun, and had seen no country 
equal to it. When we think of its richness and 
beauty, we do not wonder that Little Turtle 
and Tecumseh, and the tribes that followed 



THE CHILDREN OF NATURE. 39 

them to war, fought so stubbornly to free their 
hunting grounds from the invading white man. 
Nor is it strange that the Miamis so long 
fought against the Iroquois to keep them from 
gaining a foothold in this valley of the "River 
Beautiful." It is beautiful to us now, with its 
cities, canals, roads, gardens, fields, and 
orchards; and to the Indian it was even more 
beautiful then, with its rolling prairies and 
their wealth of waving grass, its unbroken for- 
ests echoing with song and majestic in their 
giants of oak, and its unsurpassed rivers 
muffled in snow or fringed with blooming 
wild flowers. To us it is rich in its products of 
mines and soil, to these few tribes of Indians it 
was richer in its game of forest, lake and river. 
As we would defend it with our lives to-day 
against any invading foe, so they defended it 
then with their liv r es, savagely, it is true, but 
they were only savages. 




40 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



Ill 



A Fort in the Wilderness. 




'OR more than a century after 
John Smith and his band of 
English gold hunters settled 
on the banks of the James in 
Virginia, the forests and 
prairies of the northwest ter- 
ritory remained unexplored ; 
and almost a century passed 
before any white settlements 
were formed in this territory. 
The "Father of Waters" and 
the "River Beautiful" bore 
no vessels upon their bosoms, 
except the light canoe of the Indian war 
rior and hunter. The numberless herds of 
buffaloes grazed undisturbed over the plains 
until after the departure of the hazy days of 
Indian summer. The wild deer dwelt safe 
in the deep forests until the coming of the 
hunting season of the Algonquin and the 
Iroquois. These warrior nations roamed over 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 41 

this vast territory, and by the very terror of their 
names long kept it free from white intruders. 

At length the dread of the Indian was over- 
come, the wilderness was threaded, and the 
voice of civilization was heard by the lake and 
on the banks of the Mississippi. It was not 
the conquering Spaniard, whose nation had dis- 
covered the New World and the Mississippi; 
nor the ambitious Englishman, whose people 
had settled the central Atlantic coast and 
claimed "from sea to sea," who first faced the 
dangers of this unknown territory. Neither 
was the exploration made by the noblemen or 
warriors of any nation, but by a humble priest 
of France. 

While the fever of discovery and exploration 
was at its height, the French, under Cartier, 
discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 
St. Lawrence River. In 1608, Samuel Cham- 
plain founded a settlement on this river, where 
the city of Quebec now stands. Year by year, 
exploring parties pushed further westward 
along the river and around the Great Lakes, 
even into the State of Wisconsin. Each return- 
ing party brought back many stories of the 
new country, with its wealth and beauty, and 
many were the men who longed to traverse 
further the wilderness and bring honor to their 
country and riches to themselves through the 
Indian fur trade. 



42 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

There was one class of men moved by a 
higher purpose. The Jesuit priests, forgetful 
of their own comfort and pleasure, desired to 
tell the story of Christ to the red man, in his 
far-away wilderness home. Among these 
earnest men was Marquette, whose soul was 
enkindled with love for his religion, and for 
it he was anxious to explore the interior 
of the new continent and bring the savage 
dwellers to a better life. He had been to the 
"Upper Lakes" as a missionary, where he 
taught the Indians and studied their speech 
until he was acquainted with six of their 
languages. 

This devoted man joined a party under 
Joliet, another French Jesuit, and set out 
to discover and explore the Mississippi. 
His heart was filled with gratitude for the 
offered opportunity to bring salvation to the 
wandering savages of the Mississippi valley. 
When the forests and plains were most beauti- 
ful in their robes of northern spring, the little 
party entered upon their long, lonesome 
travels. There were but seven men in all. 
These were supplied with two canoes, and pro- 
visioned with smoked meat and Indian corn. 
As they threaded the wilderness they made 
maps of the country through which they passed, 
and from the Indians gathered much informa- 
tion. They coasted the shores of the lakes and 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 43 

carried their canoes overland, and floated down 
rivers winding through over hanging forests or 
wide- stretching prairies, dotted with feeding 
herds of buffaloes and deer. At length they 
reached the Mississippi. When night would 
overtake them, they would land, haul their 
canoes ashore, light a fire, prepare the evening 
meal of bison or venison, then, in the depth of 
the wood or the solitude of the plain, would lie 
down to sleep and dream. When morning 
came, they would again launch their frail ves- 
sels and again push on. The Indians offered 
them no harm, but wondered that so small a 
band of white men would dare to set out upon 
such a dangerous expedition. And they 
warned the white men not to attempt to explore 
the Mississippi, telling them that the country 
through which it flowed was peopled with sav- 
age tribes that put to death without cause every 
stranger that passed that way. The simple- 
minded natives also spoke of a demon that 
made his home in the bosom of the "Father of 
Waters," whose voice shook the hills and could 
be heard far away, and that this demon would 
drag them down to the awful deeps of his 
home, even should they escape the lurking sav- 
ages. 

But this band of daring men was not to be 
frightened nor turned back from their impor- 
tant undertaking. Day after day, they floated 



44 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



down the Mississippi, reveling in the surround- 
ing scenery and sleeping under guard by night. 
Sometimes they moved on many days without 
seeing any signs of Indians. When the 
Indians did approach them, Marquette would 




MARQUETTE ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



announce to them that he was a messenger sent 
by the Father who made them, and that he had 
come to bring to them peace. The company 
floated on by the mouth of the Ohio, past the 
deep forest where the city of St. Louis now 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 45 

stands, and did not stop until it reached the 
mouth of the Arkansas River. Here the voy- 
age ceased and the expedition returned. 

About the same time that Joliet and Mar- 
quette were making their explorations, another 
Frenchman, named La Salle, was learning the 
language of the Iroquois and planning an 
expedition which should explore both the Ohio 
and the Mississippi Rivers. He, too, had heard 
of the roving bands of Indians of this vast ter- 
ritory, but he thought more of the land over 
which they roamed. His mind pictured a 
great empire, dotted with beautiful cities, rich 
in the abundance and variety of its products, 
and belonging to the King of France, and he 
determined to open the wslj for the settlement 
of this wilderness country. He thought that 
the Mississippi River crossed the continent and 
flowed into the Gulf of California, and that, 
through this source, he would be able to find a 
shorter route to India, and thus add wealth and 
renown to his own country. He chose Fort 
Frontenac, at the eastern end of Lake Erie, as 
the place from which all his operations should 
be carried on. 

Having formed his plans, he returned to 
France to obtain permission to carry them into 
effect. The King gave him permission to carry 
out his plans at his own expense, providing all 
his explorations were completed within a pe- 



46 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

riod of five years. Within that time, he should 
explore the Mississippi, and take possession of 
its fertile valley in the name of Louis XIV., 
and gain control of the Indian fur trade. La 
Salle was a man of iron will, a strong constitu- 
tion, and unbounded courage, or he would have 
turned aside from an undertaking so vast and 
so difficult. 

Supplies of all kinds must be provided, and 
brave and trusty men must be secured for the 
undertaking. Between him and the Mississippi 
lay an unexplored wilderness of wood and 
plain. Then came the river, with its wind- 
ing stretch of unsounded waters, along whose 
banks the Indians prowled and murdered. 
Boats must be built, lakes must be navigated, 
streams must be crossed where no bridges 
were, swamps must be waded in the face of 
unfriendly Indians, cold must be endured, and 
men must be controlled in the shadow of the 
far-away wilderness, where there was no law 
to govern. 

Just above the Niagara Falls, La Salle 
directed his men to build a boat to be used in 
his explorations. Trees were felled, bark 
houses were built to shelter the men, and the 
first ship-builders of America were soon at 
work. on the "Griffin." The Indians were 
away, engaged in the fall hunt, so the work- 
men were not disturbed in their labors. When 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 47 

the "Griffin" was completed, she was loaded 
with necessary supplies, was provisioned chiefly 
from the game of the forest, and armed with 
five small cannon. In her rested the hope of 
the stout-hearted La Salle. When all was 
ready, a cannon was fired, and the rude ves- 
sel of the wilderness started upon her first and 
unknown voyage. She plowed boldly through 
the waves of Lake Erie, then northward 
through the Strait of Detroit, across St. 
Clair Lake, and out upon the broad bosom of 
Lake Huron. 

After breasting a severe storm on Lake 
Huron, she found safety in a sheltered nook 
near a Jesuit mission. From this place, La 
Salle sent the "Griffin" back to Niagara, and 
with fourteen followers and four canoes, con- 
tinued his voyage. He never saw the ' ' Griffin ' ' 
again, and never learned of her fate. 

Soon after they had launched their frail ves- 
sels, a severe storm arose and threatened them 
with destruction. They were driven ashore, 
where they spent two long days and nights in a 
driving fall rain. They again put to sea, and 
were again driven to land, where they con- 
sumed the remainder of their provisions. 
They were then compelled to rely upon 
La Salle's trusty Mohegan hunter for meat. 
Sometimes they lived on the few haws and 
berries they were able to find, and some- 



48 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

times a handful of corn served for a day's 
rations. Often they were frightened by see- 
ing human footprints in the sand, or by the 
sudden appearance of bands of Indians on the 
shore. The nights were long and the days were 
full of anxiety. 

La Salle and his little company found the Kan- 
kakee, and paddled down this river in December 
of 1679. The days were cold, the woods were 
bare, and game was scarce. They came to a 
large Indian town, but found it deserted. The 
Indians were away on their fall and winter 
hunt. La Salle found their hidden treasure of 
corn, and so hungry were his men, and so 
uncertain their voyage, that he determined to 
take a part of it, though it would probably 
make enemies of the Indians. They spent part 
of the winter near where Peoria, Illinois, now 
stands. Here La Salle anxiously waited for 
supplies from the "Griffin" in her return voy- 
age. Being disappointed, he returned to Fort 
Frontenac overland, suffering untold hardships 
— fording rivers, wading the snow, sleeping on 
the frozen ground, threading the tangled 
woods, and resisting the attacks of the Indians. 

A second expedition, with like difficulties, 
was undertaken. The expedition crossed 
northern Indiana, beautiful with its many lakes 
and its undisturbed forests of valuable timbers. 
La Salle and his men. again visited the town of 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 49 

the Illinois Indians, and found it in ruins. 
The destruction of this town was the work 
of the revengeful Iroquois who had long 
coveted the hunting grounds lying in the val- 
leys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. These 
fierce warriors had leagued with themselves 
a number of the strong eastern tribes, and 
had made many attempts to beat back the 
possessors of these rich valleys and open up 
a way to the lands still farther toward the 
setting sun. 

Through such scenes and such trials, La Salle 
labored and suffered for almost twenty years, 
with his one great purpose steadily in view. 
He traversed the Mississippi to its mouth, and 
gave to France the right to call its valley 
Louisiana. On the coast, near where the 
waters of the Mississippi mingle with the 
waters of the Gulf, he set up a column, on 
which was inscribed the declaration that he and 
his men were the first white men that had 
ascended and descended the Mississippi, and 
that all the Louisiana country, from the Alle- 
ghanies to the Rockies, with all its peoples and 
resources, belonged to the crown of France. 
Here, in the presence of the astonished Indians, 
they fired their muskets, sang hymns, and took 
possession of the country in the name of Louis 
XIV. 

That they might maintain possession of the 



5o YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Mississippi valley, explored by Marquette and 
La Salle, hold the Indians in check, and control 
the Indian fur trade, the French established a 
chain of forts, stretching from the St. Law- 
rence to the lakes, and through the wilderness 
to the "Father of Waters." A settlement was 
formed by La Salle at Starved Rock in 1679; 
Kaskaskia was founded in 1682; a fort was 
established at Detroit in 1701; and the post of 
Vincennes was established about 17 10. Thus 
each post was made a link in the great chain 
that bound the Louisiana country together. 

Though missionaries doubtless visited the 
Indians along the Tippecanoe and on the upper 
Wabash before the founding of Post Vincennes, 
this was the first settlement in Indiana, and the 
point from which the first permanent influence 
went out to tame the forests and erect the 
homes of our state. From this wilderness- 
fort missionaries went out to subdue and refine 
the wild feelings of the, Indians. For many 
years it was but a post, where priest and com- 
mander each governed in his own realm, the 
priest looking after the religious and the com- 
mander taking care of the military service. In 
1762, Vincennes passed under the control of the 
Spanish government, which government ceded 
it to England in 1763. However, it made little 
difference to the people so far away in the 
wilderness who held possession of the terri- 



A FORT IN THE WILDERNESS. 



5* 



tory in which they lived. No change came to 
their life and government until General Clark 
wrested the post from the British, and held it 
for the future glory of the United States. 




52 YOUNG FOLKS 1 INDIANA. 



IV 

The Hero of the Northwest. 



IN the early history of our continent, while 
the colonies were nestling near the Atlantic, 
there lay beyond the mountains a rich, unbroken 
wilderness. It stretched away from the foot- 
hills of the Alleghanies, along the Ohio on the 
south and the Great Lakes on the north, to the 
Mississippi, and northward along this river to 
its source. From it have since been carved 
five of the great states of the Union. Though 
covered with a dense wilderness of grass and 
wood, it was a' promising territory for a great 
empire. The French were the first to explore 
it, and England claimed it under her policy of 
"from sea to sea." 

This wilderness empire was also claimed by 
the Indians. The various tribes of the "Five 
Nations" had wandered over it, taking game 
and scalps, so they claimed it by right of con- 
quest. In 1744, the "Five Nations" deeded this 
whole territory to Virginia, and placed them- 
selves under the protection of the English 
crown. After this, England declared that all 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 53 

lands conquered by them belonged to her. 
Thus she "laid claim to every mountain, for- 
est, or prairie where an Iroquois had taken a 
scalp." These shadowy claims England de- 
termined to enforce by establishing a line of 
forts from the lakes to the Mississippi. 

The English did not like the colonists who 
made bold to find homes in this beautiful coun- 
try, yet those who came were little disturbed 
by the early preparations for our first war with 
the mother country. The navigation laws, the 
stamp act, and the tax on tea at first had little 
effect upon the men who had come to this far- 
away wilderness. The eloquent pleadings and 
protests of our patriot fathers were slow in 
reaching this land of the Indian and home 
of the wild deer. No early drum-beat of the 
Revolution was heard in the unbroken forests 
of this unconquered empire. But, in the ear- 
nest times of the gathering war-cloud, the 
thoughts of many were turned to the fertile 
lands beyond the mountains. They crossed 
the mountains, and brought with them the 
spirit of the Revolution. 

The war spirit had also crossed the moun- 
tains to the forts on the lakes and on the rivers 
of this Northwest country. The Indians, who 
were already unfriendly to the new-comers, 
grew more restless and warlike. Bands of war- 
riors were frequently seen near the American 



54 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

settlements, and ofttimes the property of the 
settlers was stolen and carried away by the 
Indians. Now and then the body of some 
one who had ventured too far from the settle- 
ment was found scalped and pierced by 
arrows. The Indians had been won over by 
the British, and now were ready "to accept the 
war-belt whenever the British commandant 
at Detroit should send it to them." The 
British posts became rallying places for the 
savage enemies of the settlers. Here they 
sharpened their scalping knives, and here, in 
council with the British officers, they planned 
their bloody attacks upon the defenseless settle- 
ments. 

There came from Virginia into the wilds be- 
yond the Alleghanies, a young man into whose 
mind and heart it entered to free the frontier 
from this Indian warfare. He was born near 
Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in 
1752, nine years after the birth of the "Sage of 
Monticello." They may not have been play- 
mates in their boyhood days, but early in their 
young manhood there grew up between them a 
lasting friendship. This friendship may have 
been greatly strengthened by the fact that they 
had known and loved the same home scenes in 
their early childhood. 

This hero of the Northwest was George 
Rogers Clark. Like Washington, he studied 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 55 

surveying, and like him, first learned the beauty 
of the wilderness over the mountains by cross- 
ing the mountains on a surveying expedition. 
He found the country even richer and more 
beautiful than he had expected, so he selected 
a choice site and located upon it. He spent his 
time in hunting, fishing and surveying. The 
wilderness held many attractions for him, and 
he was in love with it. Often he would write 
long letters to his Virginia friends, telling them 
of forest-streams teeming with fish, and the 
unbounded wilderness fragrant with wild 
flowers, and rich in game of every kind. These 
letters read like stories from fairy land, and 
made many people anxious to secure homes for 
themselves over the mountains. He enjoyed 
the excitement of the chase, and the solitude of 
the wilderness, and even the dangers of the 
frontier were not unwelcome to him. In this 
wilderness school, he was being trained to 
deeds of heroism. 

Some of Clark's friends had pushed on farther 
into the wilderness, and had settled in Ken- 
tucky. These often wrote him of the wonders 
and beauties of their newly-found homes. 
Filled with the spirit of adventure, he deter- 
mined to join them in the dark bosom of the 
Kentucky forest, so he wrote to his friends in 
Virginia that he had engaged as a surveyor to 
lay out lands in Kentucky. Here he came, and 



56 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

here he met with some severe trials which 
darkened many days of his life. 

He possessed all the qualities that fitted a 
man for the rough life of a pioneer. He was 
strong, fearless, bold, energetic, courageous, 
and his manners were always pleasant. He 
was just such a man as the rude pioneers would 
desire as their leader, and they soon came to 
look upon him as the champion of their cause. 
Whenever differences arose among them, or 
danger threatened the settlement, they looked 
to this young hero for advice and assistance. 

At a meeting of the pioneers of Kentucky, 
Clark was chosen a member of the Virginia 
Legislature, and at once arranged to attend a 
meeting of the same at Williamsburg, Virginia, 
that he might plead the cause of the settlers. 
The journey was a long and dangerous one, the 
season was wet, the wagon trail was muddy, 
and unfriendly Indians lurked in the deep 
shadow of the forest. One of his horses gave 
out, and he was compelled to walk until his feet 
were blistered and sore. Through all the diffi- 
culties, he reached Williamsburg in safety, 
only to find that the Legislature had adjourned 
before his arrival. However, the eloquent and 
patriotic Patrick Henry was then Governor, 
and to him Clark turned for advice and help. 
The Governor was ill, but listened earnestly to 
Clark's story, then requested the executive 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 5 7 

council to give him five hundred pounds of 
powder for the defense of the frontier settle- 
ments. After some delay, the request was 
granted, and the powder was ordered to be 
taken to Pittsburg. This was one important 
step in the conquest and organization of this 
wilderness empire. 

After his return from Virginia, young Clark 
assisted in organizing the County of Kentucky, 
and provided for the protection of the Kentucky 
settlers. Then his mind turned toward the 
military posts in the wilderness north of the 
Ohio. Many days he silently thought over the 
possibility of taking these British posts, and 
thus freeing the frontiers from Indian raids. 
It was a great thought that filled his mind, yet 
its full greatness he never knew, nor do we even 
now fully understand it. He told no one of his 
plans until they were completed, and he was 
ready to lead his little army into the unbroken 
country over the Ohio River. While he was 
thinking and planning, he sent two young hunt- 
ers as spies to the forts, that he might learn of 
their strength and whether their commanders 
were expecting an attack from the settlers. 
The spies went on their dangerous mission, 
learned what they could and returned to Clark. 
They told him that the French in the forts 
were friendly to the Americans, that the sol- 
diers drilled daily, and were ready for battle, 



5 8 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

that the Indians were friendly to the British, 
but that the commanders of the forts were 
expecting no attack from the settlers beyond 
the Ohio. 

Clark knew that no conquest of this territory 
could be made except through the government 
of Virginia, to which it belonged, so he again 
determined to go to Virginia and lay his plans 
before his friends and afterward before the 
Governor of that colony. When his people 
learned of his purpose to visit Virginia again, 
they begged him not to leave them. He had 
not told them of his plans, but they knew he 
was about some serious business. They feared 
that he meant to join the colonial army, and 
would not again return to them. 

He left the frontier and returned to Virginia, 
where he laid his plans before some of his inti- 
mate friends. Fortunately for him and his 
cause, the colonists had just heard of Bur- 
goyne's surrender to General Gates, and were 
filled with new hope, and with thoughts of 
greater things that yet should happen. Among 
the friends to whom he made known his pur- 
pose was Governor Henry, who was at first 
pleased with the idea; but then he thought of 
the mountains and the deep wilderness stretch- 
ing away for hundreds of miles, with no roads 
and few people, except the unfriendly Indians. 
And there came to his mind a picture of a little 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 59 

band of soldiers leaving home and friends, toil- 
ing up the steep mountain way, penetrating the 
wilderness, fording the unbridged streams, 
sleeping under the open sky of this wild coun- 
try, being attacked by savages, and of new 
graves in the wilderness. Then the patriot 
Governor hesitated. It was an enterprise rich 
with possibilities, but he thought of the sacri- 
fice, the suffering, and possible failure. How- 
ever, he called a conference of which Thomas 
Jefferson was a member, to consider the mat- 
ter. Clark's plans were discussed for many 
weeks, and the Governor finally reported 
them favorably to the Council, which body 
endorsed them and sent them to the Legisla- 
ture, which made provisions for carrying them 
into effect. 

Clark's first purpose was to attack Kaskaskia, 
in Illinois, but he was given permission to 
attack "any of our western enemies." That 
men might be more easily persuaded to join 
the expedition, there was held out to them the 
promised hope that from the territory con- 
quered each one should be granted three hun- 
dred acres of land. This hope was afterwards 
realized. After many difficulties and much 
delay, the young hero succeeded in collecting 
from different sources a small body of men with 
which he proposed to conquer the great North- 
west. Near the close of May, 1778, he brought 



6o 



YOUN& FOLKS' INDIANA. 



his little band of soldiers to the falls of the 
Ohio, opposite where the city of Louisville now 
stands. Here he selected, as a place for his 
headquarters, a small island in the middle of 
the river. The island was covered with timber 




and cane, which was afterward cleared away, 
and the ground where they stood was converted 
into small fields and gardens. It was a place 
well suited for organizing such an expedition 
as Clark had in mind. For the first time, he 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 61 

now made known to his soldiers his plans and 
the places against which he meant to lead 
them. The announcement was received with 
enthusiasm, and every soldier seemed proud to 
follow his young leader. 

The day on which he made known his plans, 
he also gave notice that the little army would 
start on the following morning. That was a 
busy day on Corn Island, and far into the night 
the work of preparation went on. In the 
shadow of the island that night the boats lay 
waiting to carry the army down the river at 
the coming of the morning. There was little 
sleep on the island that night, for minds were 
filled with thoughts of the friends beyond 
the mountains, and hearts beat anxiously for 
the future. The river rolled by on either 
side, and hurried away to the Mississippi; and 
the deep, black forest was all around. The 
murmuring of the wind through the cane-brake, 
the restless twitter of the wondering birds, 
and the roar of the Ohio waters, made solemn 
the last night on the island. The wilder- 
ness had never before looked upon a scene like 
this. 

On the morning of departure, the sun 
rose out of the wilderness bright and clear. 
The command was given and the pioneer army 
of one hundred and seventy-five men embarked 
in the boats that lay waiting in the shadow 



62 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

through the night. Soon after they had pushed 
off from the island, the sun entered an eclipse 
that was nearly total, and darkness at almost 
midday hovered over the wilderness and over 
the waters. The unsounded waters of the 
Ohio, carrying them still farther from home, 
the unexplored wilds all about them, the 
uncertainty of the outcome, and the sun hang- 
ing dark in the clear June sky, made the bravest 
tremble, but none faltered. They were off to 
attack the British at Kaskaskia. 

They went down the Ohio, moving on day 
and night, the men taking turns at the oars. 
When near the mouth of the river, they went 
ashore, hid their boats, and started overland to 
Kaskaskia, about a hundred miles away. To 
reach it, the army must march through a dense 
wood that bordered the river, and over a long 
stretch of level plain which made discovery 
easy, and discovery meant defeat to the army. 
They had no horses and wagons to carry the 
baggage and provisions, so the sturdy young 
pioneers strapped them on their backs, and 
pushed forward toward Kaskaskia. After they 
had marched two days, the guide acted so 
strangely that they thought him to be a spy, 
and threatened to put him to death. He 
declared that he had lost the way, and begged 
them to give him a chance to prove his loyalty. 
He soon found his way again, and not only 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. (>Z 

proved himself to be a faithful guide, but also a 
brave and faithful soldier. 

After marching six days through brush and 
swamp over unmade roads, on the 4th of July, 
1778, the tired soldiers came in sight of the 
town, with the river rolling between them. In 
the evening they secured a number of boats, 
and crossed the river undiscovered. The town 
was soon surrounded by part of the army, while 
Clark, at the head of the remainder, rushed 
into the fort and captured the Governor while 
he was yet in bed. Guards were placed along 
the principal streets, and Kaskaskia was soon 
in the hands of the army of the frontier. The 
fort was well supplied with cannon and soldiers, 
yet it was taken by a mere handful of untried 
soldiers, without the loss of a life or the firing 
of a gun. The surprise was complete. An 
attack had long been expected, but none had 
been made, and the officers and soldiers grew 
careless, and were not on duty when Clark sur- 
rounded the town and fort. Thus fell 
Kaskaskia, and the conquest of the Northwest 
was well begun. 

After the fall of Kaskaskia, Clark sent the 
great Indian fighter, Simon Kenton, to carry 
the news to the few settlers left on the island 
at the falls of the Ohio. On his way he was to 
pass by the post at Vincennes, and learn all he 
could of the situation there. This he did faith- 



64 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

fully, then sent a trusty messenger with the 
information to Clark at Kaskaskia. Clark also 
gained the friendship of the French, and the 
Indians, who had been deceived by the British. 
The friendship of the French proved to be of 
great value to him in his conquest of Vin- 
cennes, which surrendered, and raised the 
American flag without offering any resist- 
ance. 

The British held a strong fort at Detroit, on 
the Lakes, under the command of Governor 
Hamilton, who often incited the Indians to 
plunder and murder the settlers. Many times 
in his letters he refers to the number of pris- 
oners captured and the number of scalps 
taken. When Hamilton heard of the fall of 
Kaskaskia and Vincennes, he determined to 
regain what had been lost, and so collected a 
motley army of British and Indians, and set 
out on an expedition against Vincennes. After 
seventy-two days of hardship and suffering in 
the wilderness, his army appeared unexpectedly 
before Fort Sackville, the defense of Vin- 
cennes, and demanded its surrender. Hamil- 
ton had an army of more than five hundred 
men, while Captain Helm, the commander of 
the fort, had but seventy. He knew he could 
not hold the fort against such odds, so he sur- 
rendered with the honors of war. 

The capture of Vincennes left Clark alone in 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 65 

the wilderness, with but one hundred Ameri- 
can and the same number of French soldiers. 
The arrival of the British so frightened the 
French that he did not feel sure of their sup- 
port; however, they proved loyal to the last. 
The Indians again allied themselves with the 
British, and again became the enemies of the 
Americans. Clark's provisions were exhausted, 
and the British army, more than five hundred 
strong, lay between him and his source of sup- 
plies on Corn Island. The expected reinforce- 
ments had not arrived, and it seemed he must 
quit the territory that he had already con- 
quered, as he could not hope to hold it with so 
small a force. 

It is under trials such as these that we see 
the character of the man most clearly. He 
knew that Hamilton, with his superior force, 
would capture him if he waited till spring, so, 
with his army of a hundred Americans and a- 
hundred Frenchmen, he determined to take 
Vincennes before Hamilton had time to move 
against him. 

On the 6th of February the command to go for- 
ward was given, and, with the blessings of the 
priest and the people, the heroic band marched 
out to conquer or to be conquered. Vincennes 
was two hundred and forty miles away, and 
the plain lying between was mostly covered 
with water. On the eighth day out, the 



66 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



wearied soldiers reached the Little Wabash, 
and spent the night in camp upon its banks. 

The waters of the river were spread out over 
the low plain like a boundless sea. Clark 
ordered his men to make a rude vessel and 







THE MARCH TO VINCENNES. 



explore the waters and find, if possible, some 
point of high land across the river. An island 
was found and the way to it was marked by 
blazing the trees After the return of the 
explorers, a platform was built on the opposite 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 67 

bank of the river, and to this all the baggage 
was removed. The horses were swum across, 
and the men were ferried over. Then the 
horses were again loaded with the baggage, 
and the march through the waters was begun. 
The sick were placed in the boat, and the well 
plunged cheerfully into the icy water. The 
little drummer boy converted his drum into a 
life preserver, and amused the soldiers by float- 
ing upon it. The height was reached, the camp 
was pitched, the simple meal was devoured, 
and the evening was spent in relating the 
experiences of the day. 

For more than a week the march through the 
icy waters continued. On one occasion, when 
the soldiers seemed more wearied and dis- 
couraged than usual, Clark ordered the largest 
and strongest man in the army to hoist the 
drummer boy upon his shoulders, then the 
command to go forward was given, the drummer 
boy beat a "tattoo" on his drum, and all 
advanced through the half frozen waters that 
covered the land as far as the eye could 
reach. At times peals of laughter rolled away 
over the unfriendly waters, war-whoops were 
given in true Indian fashion, and patriotic 
songs echoed through the wood; but beneath 
all this merry-making there were more serious 
thoughts. Fearing that some of his men might 
desire to leave the army, Clark ordered one of 



68 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

his trusty soldiers to go to the rear with 
twenty-five picked men, and shoot down any 
man who should refuse to march, but none 
were shot. 

On the 1 8th of February the army was 
within sound of the morning guns of the fort. 
On the 21st, they were ferried across the 
Wabash below the town, and marched all day 
through the rain without food. With no pro- 
visions, the river rolling deep in their rear, 
and the strongly garrisoned fort in their front, 
doubts and questionings must have filled the 
minds of the tired soldiers. There was no way 
of retreat, and no quarter could be expected 
from the savage allies of the British. The 
army halted in a clump of timber within view 
of the fort, and all anxiously awaited orders. 

Clark wrote a placard and sent to the people 
of Vincennes, warning all who desired and 
loved liberty to remain in their homes or expect 
severe punishment afterward, as he was at the 
head of an army determined to take the town. 
The inhabitants were surprised, and came out 
in groups to view the army. That the number 
of soldiers might appear great, the army was 
marched and countermarched under cover of a 
small rise, which partly concealed the troops. 
The forward movement was begun just before 
sunset, and by eight o'clock the soldiers stood 
on the heights back of the town. 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 69 

The fort contained from two to three acres 
and was surrounded by a stockade ten or 
twelve feet high. Block-houses were at the 
four corners, and in the center was also a block- 
house made of timbers set on end, and the 
space between the timbers filled with clay. As 
soon as the army was in range of the fort, one 
company was commanded to fire upon it. At 
first the British thought it was only some 
Indians who were saluting the fort on their 
return from a hunting expedition. As soon as 
the real situation became known the firing 
began in earnest on both sides, and the contest 
was on that would decide the future of the 
great Northwest. The enemy was in complete 
ignorance of Clark's approach until aroused by 
the attack on the fort. Those who had been 
warned by the placard took themselves to their 
houses and did not warn the soldiers. 

The firing was kept up all night long. At 
times a continuous blaze streamed forth from 
the guns of the pioneer soldiers as they lay 
concealed under cover of the stockade, and 
their shouts mingled with the roar of the Brit- 
ish cannon and rolled away in a strange medley 
over the dark waters through the wood. On 
the following morning Colonel Clark sent to 
Governor Hamilton a demand to surrender, 
and a refusal was returned. Then the firing 
began more earnestly than before. However, 



70 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

before nightfall the articles of surrender were 
signed, the army and the inhabitants becoming 
prisoners, and the beginning of the end of 
British rule in the Northwest was at hand. 

Minor engagements followed, until the 
Wabash valley was fully under the control of 
the Americans. Then Clark looked longingly 
toward Detroit, but was never permitted to 
carry out his great desire to take this British 
stronghold. As no further conquests seemed 
possible, he set about fortifying the places 
already conquered. In the summer of 1779, 
after this work had been well done, the con- 
queror of the wilderness returned to the settle- 
ment at the falls of the Ohio. 

This traces our hero through that part of 
his life that most affected the history of 
our state, though almost the whole strength 
of his life was spent in the service of his coun- 
try and of humanity. Even after his fighting 
days were over, he was deeply interested in the 
affairs of the territory which, in his young 
manhood, he had conquered and held for the 
United States. 

In 1 78 1, the General Assembly of Virginia 
passed an act granting to Clark and his officers 
and soldiers a tract of land containing one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand acres, to be located 
some place on the northwest side of the Ohio 
river. In 1783, another act was passed, pro- 



THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST. 7* 

viding for "locating and surveying" the land 
granted. The tract was located in southern 
Indiana, and still bears the name of "Clark's 
Grant." 

On the west side of Monument Place, in the 
city of Indianapolis, stands a statue of General 
Clark, placed there by the patriotic people of 
Indiana on the 11 6th anniversary of the capture 
of Vincennes. On this pedestal is inscribed, 
"General George Rogers Clark, Conqueror of 
the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, from 
the British, 1778-9." 




72 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 




V 

Tecumseh and Tippecanoe, 



'N 1768, at an old Indian village 
in Ohio, there was born a 
Shawnee baby that was after- 
wards to bring much trouble to the first settlers 
of the Ohio valley. This baby was named Te- 
cumseh — a name which means, "a panther 
crouching." Tecumseh had a brother, who was 
later called the Prophet, because he pretended to 
be chosen by the Great Spirit to speak to and for 
his people. It is said that these Shawnee 
brothers were twins, but the truthfulness of the 
statement cannot be proven. Though sur- 
rounded by the same conditions, these two 
brothers grew to be men differing greatly in 
character. One became a cowardly prophet, 
the other a daring fighter, but both earnestly 
hated the white settlers of the Indian hunting 
grounds ; and it is not strange that they should, 
for at the hands of the white men their father 
had met his death when Tecumseh was but 
six years of age. 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 73 

Tecumseh was born in the bosom of the 
wilderness and in the midst of war. Before he 
understood the meaning of the war-whoop of 
the painted warrior, or knew the bloody story 
of the scalp dangling at the warrior's belt, his 
mother's evening song had breathed into him 
the spirit of war. In the twilight of their for- 
est home the mother doubtless often told him 
how the father, with scalping knife and toma- 
hawk, had gone against the whites, but had 
never returned. The gathering of the young 
warriors of the tribe, their stories of the cruel- 
ties of the whites, the hardships they had 
suffered, and the scalps they had taken made 
lasting impressions upon the life of this young 
brave. 

Before Tecumseh was ten years of age, the 
war between the colonies and England was on, 
and the Indians were urged by the British to 
attack the American settlers wherever found. 
This brought on a conflict between the Indians 
and the pioneers of the Ohio valley, — a conflict 
in which the whites were at times quite as 
unjust and cruel as their uncivilized enemies. 
Around the camp fires at night, the young 
Shawnee heard discussed every feature of the 
bloody struggle between the Caucasians and 
the red men, who rejoiced to recount the many 
times in which the bow and the tomahawk had 
been victorious against the arms of their white 



74 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

brothers. Here they recalled the time when 
their hunting grounds were free and there 
were no white men, no firearms, and no 
fire-water in the Ohio Valley. Here, too, 
Tecumseh heard often repeated the story 
of his father's death. In these early days, 
while listening to the stories of the war- 
riors, no doubt there came into the heart of 
this Indian boy a longing to free his people 
from the dread of the white man. No doubt 
his wild imagination pictured to him a time 
when the whites would be driven beyond the 
mountains, and their hunting grounds, rich in 
game, would again be wholly theirs. All these 
things he stored away, and they served him 
right well in his fruitless struggle against 
advancing civilization. 

At the age of sixteen Tecumseh took part in 
his first battle, near where the city of Dayton, 
Ohio, now stands. It is said that he became so 
frightened that he fled from the field. This 
does not mean that he was a coward, as he 
afterward showed in every battle in which he 
was engaged. Soon after his first battle he 
was with a band of Indians that attacked some 
flat-boats as they were descending the Ohio, 
and in this attack he excelled in courage even 
the oldest and bravest warriors. After the 
boats were captured, Tecumseh, for the first 
time, saw a prisoner burned at the stake, 



TEC VMS EH AND TIPPECANOE. 75 

While the helpless victim was being slowly tor- 
tured to his death, the young Shawnee sat 
silently by without showing any signs of pity ; 
but, after the torture was over, he arose and 
spoke against the cruelty of their conduct, and 
declared that he would never permit another 
prisoner to be burned when it was in his power 
to prevent it. It is said that he faithfully kept 
his word, and that his eloquence and earnest- 
ness so affected the Indians present that they 
declared that they would never assist in burn- 
ing another prisoner. This eloquent and suc- 
cessful appeal of the boy warrior in the depth 
of the forest foreshadowed the great warrior 
and statesman he was yet to be. 

Tecumseh was nineteen years old when he 
set out on a tour of adventure through the west 
and south. He crossed Indiana, stopping sev- 
eral months in the northeastern part of the 
state, then, with a few companions, fearlessly 
pushed on through the wilderness and over the 
wild plains to the Mississippi. Three years he 
spent in wandering, hunting and fighting. 
Sometimes we hear of him in the west, chasing 
the buffalo over the plains, sometimes in the 
south, joined with the Cherokees in attacking 
the white settlements, and in turn warding off 
the attacks of the settlers upon his camp, and, 
again in the east, following the mountain trail 
back to his old familiar hunting grounds. In 



76 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

all his wanderings, he was gaining knowledge 
and experience which would prove helpful to 
him in the great things which he hoped to 
accomplish. He became acquainted with the 
southern tribes and learned something of their 
language, character, and habits, and impressed 
himself upon them as a brave warrior. This 
knowledge was of great use to him in forming 
his confederacy against the whites. 

He was very fond of hunting, and, when not 
wandering over the country, spent much of his 
time in this way. He thought the hunt was 
best suited to the dignity and calling of a noble 
warrior. Sometimes the tribe to which he 
belonged would settle long enough in one place 
to raise a single crop of corn, then move on. 
On invitation from some Delawares that lived 
near where the growing city of Muncie now 
stands, Tecumseh joined them and remained 
among them a number of years. The splendid 
autumn days of these years he spent in hunting 
in the forests of northern Indiana. Here, 
while silently following the trail of the deer 
through the solitude of the wood, he doubtless 
was laying the plans that resulted in the battle 
of Tippecanoe. 

We hear very little of Tecumseh's prophet 
brother until 1805. About this time a Shawnee 
prophet died. The brother had observed 
the influence a prophet had among his people, 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 77 

and now determined to become a power- 
ful Indian by taking- the place of the dead 
prophet. Soon afterward he called a number 
of tribes together in northern Ohio, and 
announced to them that he had been chosen by 
the Great Spirit as the successor to the prophet 
who had just died. He became a preaching 
prophet, who not only foretold coming events 
and cured disease in a mysterious manner, but 
cried out against the sins of his people. Unfor- 
tunately for his influence for good, he was no 
small sinner himself. He was graceful and 
eloquent, but cowardly, cruel, and untruthful. 
By his preaching and his mysterious perform- 
ances, he soon brought around him a consider- 
able band of followers drawn from the wild, 
restless young men of different tribes. 

In 1808 Tecumseh and the Prophet, with a 
band of about one hundred and fifty Indians, 
removed to the Wabash, near where Lafayette 
now stands. Here they had been granted a 
tract of land by the Pottawattamies and Kicka- 
poos, and here, near where the Tippecanoe 
flows into the Wabash, they founded a village 
and called it the Prophet's Town. As the 
second war with Great Britain approached, the 
British agents became more active among the 
Indians and the Indians became more danger- 
ous to the settlements. Even before the 
removal of Tecumseh and his brother to Tippe- 



78 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

canoe, there were brought to Governor Harri- 
son fresh reports of murders committed, houses 
burned, and property carried away. Soon 
after their removal the Governor learned that 
great numbers of Indians were gathering at 
the Prophet's Town, drawn there by the 
mysterious doings and teachings of the Prophet. 

Thus far the Prophet had been blamed for 
all the trouble the Indians had been causing 
the white settlers, but the people now began 
to understand that behind the Prophet was the 
strong, fearless Tecumseh, who was simply 
making use of his brother in carrying out his 
own plans. Tecumseh knew well the character 
of the Indian, his superstitions and his rever- 
ence for the Great Spirit and those who spoke 
for him, so he determined to reach and unite 
the various tribes through his prophet brother. 
He gave the Prophet position among the war- 
riors, showed him great respect, and generally 
treated him as if he were a superior being, in 
this way adding to the influence of his brother. 

During all this time Tecumseh was secretly 
striving to unite all the western and southern 
Indians for the purpose of destroying the 
whites or driving them beyond the mountains. 
From tribe to tribe he went, and by his elo- 
quence and earnestness won many to his cause. 
In his fiery speeches he would recite to them 
the wrongs they had suffered since the landing 



TECUMSEH AXD TIPPECANOE. 79 

of Columbus, would appeal to their pride and 
their passion, and show how easy it would be 
for them, when united, to drive the whites 
from the Indian hunting grounds. Under a 
chieftain of such power the younger warriors 
would dare to enter upon any undertaking, 
however dangerous. 

The attacks upon the frontier grew more 
frequent and the murders increased, while the 
number of warriors at the Prophet's Town 
grew larger. Governor Harrison grew more 
anxious for the safety of his people, and more 
suspicious of the purpose of Tecumseh and his 
brother; so he sent some trusty men to Tippe- 
canoe to find out the Prophet's reason for mak- 
ing such warlike preparations. The Prophet 
replied that he had no intention of making war 
on the whites; that he and his followers had 
settled on the Tippecanoe because the Great 
Spirit had so commanded them. 

In reply to a speech sent by Governor Harri- 
son to Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief said: 
"The Great Spirit gave this great island to his 
red children ; he placed the whites on the other 
side of the big water. They were not con- 
tented with their own, but came to take ours 
from us. They have driven us from the sea to 
the lakes ; we can go no further. They have 
taken upon them to say this tract belongs to 
the Miamis, this to the Delawares, and so on, 



80 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

but the Great Spirit intended it as the common 
property of all. Our father tells us that we 
have no business upon the Wabash — the land 
belongs to other tribes; but the Great Spirit 
ordered us to come here, and here we will 
stay. ' ' 

Governor Harrison had purchased from the 
Miamis, Delawares, and other tribes, a tract of 
land lying along the Wabash. To this Tecum- 
seh objected, so the Governor invited him to 
come to Vincennes, where they would confer 
about the matter. Fearing treachery on the 
part of Tecumseh, Governor Harrison directed 
that he should not bring with him more than 
thirty warriors, but he came with four hundred. 
His arrival with so large a body of Indians 
greatly frightened the people of Vincennes, 
and even the Governor feared that he had come 
with war in his heart. His fears were further 
strengthened when Tecumseh refused to hold 
the council in the portico of the Governor's 
house, where seats had been prepared for all. 
He said they preferred to meet under the shade 
of the forest trees in front of the house. 
Governor Harrison said he did not object to 
holding the meeting in the grove, but that 
there were no seats there. To this objection 
Tecumseh replied, "The earth is my mother, 
and on her bosom will I repose." 

At one time, while the council was in session, 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 81 

Tecumseh arose and began speaking very- 
excitedly. Suddenly, in reply to some state- 
ment made by the Governor, he exclaimed, ' ' It 
is false, ' ' and gave a secret signal to his follow- 
ers, who sprang from their seats upon the grass 
and seized their arms. Governor Harrison 
drew his sword, and those of his attendants 
who were armed drew their weapons, while 
others hurriedly seized brickbats and clubs, 
and prepared to meet the expected attack of 
the Indians. During the exciting scene not a 
word was spoken. The Governor then told 
Tecumseh that he was a bad man, that he 
would have nothing more to do with him, 
and that he must leave Vincennes at once. 
However, the council was renewed next day 
in the camp of Tecumseh, but nothing came 
of it. 

In June of 1811, Governor Harrison sent 
another speech to Tecumseh and his followers 
at Tippecanoe, in which he told them that 
their warlike conduct had greatly alarmed the 
white people, and that they were arming to 
defend themselves. He told them it would be 
useless for them to go to war with the whites, 
who were as numerous as the mosquitoes of the 
Wabash. 

Late in July Tecumseh again visited the 
Governor at Vincennes, and another council 
was held, which ended with nothing decided. 



82 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

At the close of the meeting Tecumseh said he 
hoped nothing would be done toward settling 
their land claims before his return in the 
spring. In a short time he set off for the 
south, accompanied by twenty warriors. He 
was going to complete the union of the tribes 
for the purpose of freeing the Ohio valley from 
the presence of the white man. Alas for the 
patriotic, but misguided, Tecumseh! His 
people were overthrown before his return to 
Tippecanoe. 

The Governor tried many months to persuade 
the Indians to stop their raids and cease mur- 
dering the whites. He showed them how fool- 
ish it would be to attempt to drive the whites 
over the mountains, and warned them of the 
results of their own conduct. Failing in all his 
appeals to them, he determined to compel 
them to do what he could not persuade them to 
do. On the 26th of September, 181 1, he set 
out for the Prophet's Town with an army of 
about nine hundred soldiers. Sixty miles 
above Vincennes, on the Wabash, the Gov- 
ernor built a fort which was named Fort 
Harrison, in his honor. Here he remained 
almost a month, then moved on toward Tip- 
pecanoe. 

Governor Harrison knew well the Indians' 
manner of fighting, so he guarded against any 
possible surprise. By day the army marched 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 83 

in such order that at a moment's warning the 
soldiers could be formed into a hollow square, 
and thus present to the enemy a solid front in 
four directions. 

At night the army encamped in order of 
battle. While on the march, both the advance 
and the rear were protected by mounted sol- 
diers, who could either charge the enemy and 
put them to flight, or return quickly to the 
army and give the alarm. 

It was a beautiful country through which 
the army passed. Slender creeks from out 
the prairies added their waters to the waters 
of the Wabash, and on either side of the river 
were sharp ravines. There were broad 
stretches of prairie with narrow woodlands 
running down to. the river's edge. To the 
trees of the wood Autumn had just added her 
last touch of beauty before turning them over 
to her successor, Winter. The birds, growing 
restless at the approach of winter, had tried 
their wings and were now on their way to a 
peaceful home in the South, and doubtless 
looked down in wonder upon the army march- 
ing northward to war. As the soldiers 
marched on through scenes like this to meet 
the wary and cruel foe, the hush of the autumn 
and the deep uncertain hush that always pre- 
cedes a battle must have brought to mind the 
rude cabins in the wilderness behind, where 



84 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

wives and mothers watched and children 
prattled. 

Only four Indians were seen on the march. 
This caused the Governor to fear that they had 
gone to attack the poorly protected settlements 
which had been left behind. 

However, after sending a small company back 
to Vincennes, he pushed on toward the 
Prophet's Town, and on the 6th of November 
came in sight of it. Soon three Indians were 
sent by the Prophet to meet Governor Harrison 
and inquire why he was approaching the town 
in such a warlike manner. They also declared 
that it was the Prophet's desire to live in peace 
with the white people if possible. Before they 
returned to the town, they were told by the 
Governor that there would be no fighting until 
he had seen them the next day. The army 
then moved forward and was soon upon the 
very ground that the Great Spirit had chosen 
for Tecumseh and his followers. 

A suitable place for a camp was selected, the 
army was arranged in order of battle, and the 
men slept on their arms that night. The night 
was cloudy and the moon was late in rising. 
Soon after it arose, a drizzling rain set in and 
the darkness grew deeper. The anxiety of 
those who watched increased with the dark- 
ness, for they were in the enemy's country. 
When the darkness hung thickest over the 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 



85 



valley, just before the dawn, more than a thou- 
sand Indian warriors began creeping through 
the drizzled grass toward the camp where the 
tired army lay sleeping. Well it was for that 




BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 



day that the soldiers slept on their arms and 
were thus ready to meet the sudden attack of 
the stealthy foe. 

That morning the Governor had risen at half- 



86 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

past three o'clock, and was sitting by the camp- 
fire pulling on his boots while he talked with 
his officers who surrounded him. Some one 
had been sent to awaken the drummer, that he 
might beat the morning call to arouse the 
sleeping army. Suddenly the crack of a rifle 
was heard, then followed the wild war-whoop 
of the approaching enemy. A thousand throats 
echoed the first savage yell and these were 
answered by the shouts of the soldiers and the 
rattle of their muskets. 

As soon as the first shot was fired, and the 
first wild yell pierced the heavy air of that 
dark morning, every soldier was on his feet 
and at his post. They knew full well the 
meaning of the Indian war-whoop. They did 
not need the drummer to arouse them. The 
camp-fires were put out, "officers hurried to 
their posts, and the battle soon raged on all 
sides. ' ' While the battle was at its height, the 
Prophet took his station on a hill out of harm's 
way and loudly chanted his war song, which 
rose high and clear above the mingled rattle of 
musketry, the shouts of the soldiers, and the 
war-whoop of the Indians. In this manner he 
excited his superstitious followers to greatest 
bravery. They quit their hiding places and 
fearlessly rushed upon the bayonets of the white 
soldiers, only to meet certain death. Soon after 
daylight the infantry and the cavalry made a 



TECUMSEH AND TIPPECANOE. 



87 



united charge which drove the Indians into 
flight. The war-whoop died away in the dis- 
tance, the battle of Tippecanoe was over, and 
a lasting peace settled upon the valley of the 
Wabash. 




88 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



VI 
Making- a State. 



A HUNDRED years ago, Indiana was a 
wilderness, unbroken except by lakes and 
rivers, and by a few clusters of cabins, which 
were far apart like scattered islands in a wild 
sea. The whoop of the Indian, the scream of 
the panther, the bellow of the buffalo, the 
growl of the bear, the grunt of the wild hog, and 
the squawk of the wild goose, were familiar 
sounds within her borders. When Indiana 
was admitted into the Union, in 1816, more 
than one-half of her lands belonged to the 
Indians. Changes have come so rapidly that 
we seem to be in a land of wonders, where some 
mighty fairy governs with her magic wand. 
The Indians are gone, the wild animals have 
disappeared, the swamps and marshes have 
been drained, and the forests have been cleared 
away. The home of the white man stands 
where the wigwam stood, and where the wild 
animals roamed, now graze herds of Holstein 
and flocks of Southdown. Where the marshes 
were the grain grows rankest, and orchards 



MAKING A STATE. 89 

bloom and bear where stood the deepest 
wood. 

These changes have been wrought by the 
strong hands of the brave-hearted pioneers of 
the west. The task set before them was an 
unusual one. It was as important as it was 
difficult. It required energy and courage, and 
demanded toil, sacrifice, and suffering. In 
this stretch of wild country lay the possibilities 
of a great state; but who would conquer and 
develop it? The red men were here to defend 
their hunting grounds and contest every foot 
of the way to civilization. Rivers and streams 
are necessary to a great country, but they are 
obstacles in the way of the pioneer. Much 
wealth lies in timber-lands, but the forest must 
be cleared before the land can be tilled. Even 
the richness of the soil made difficult the way 
of the pioneer. 

The invitation of this rich region to worthy 
men to come and possess and develop it was 
heard across the Ohio, and beyond the Alle- 
ghanies. Emigrants came from the hills and 
valleys of Kentucky and from the plains and 
plateaus of Tennessee. Over the mountains 
they came from Virginia, Maryland, and the 
Carolinas; and many also came from the Key 
Stone State. They were usually men and 
women desiring wider freedom and larger 
opportunities for themselves and for their chil- 



9© YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

dren. For these they were ready and willing 
to labor and sacrifice. Out of such a spirit of 
freedom and of service our state was born. 

Near the middle of the eighteenth century 
two roads were made over the mountains, con- 
necting the Atlantic slope with the Ohio valley. 
These were two of the great highways by which 
civilization came into the west. Having crossed 
the mountains or the Ohio, the pioneers found 
a fertile and beautiful wilderness stretching 
away for hundreds of miles. Some from the 
east would follow the winding course of the 
Ohio, while others would push straight on into 
the heart of the unsettled country. They 
usually traveled the first part of the journey in 
small companies, but when they approached 
that part of the country where they wished to 
settle, they separated, and each chose the land 
that best suited him. Sometimes these new- 
comers would disturb the hunters and trappers 
who had come alone into the wilds of the west, 
and wanted no neighbors. It is written that 
one of these men walked fifteen miles to learn 
the cause of a smoke that he had seen on the 
horizon. When he found that it came from the 
camp of a settler, he returned in disgust, 
packed his meager belongings and pushed on 
still farther into the wilderness. 

The first settlers brought their goods into the 
new country in various ways. Sometimes they 



MAKING A STATE. 



9 1 



were firmly strapped on the back of a horse, 
sometimes packed on an ox-cart, and sometimes 
again placed in a rude farm wagon. In this 
manner, the long, rough journey was made. 
The wife and children also found a place in the 




wagon, while the husband and father walked 
beside his faithful team. At night they some- 
times found lodging with other settlers who had 
preceded them, but more frequently those who 
could not find room in the wagon were sheltered 



92 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

only b) r the friendly trees. The horses were 
hobbled that they might graze, yet could not 
wander off into the forest. How serious must 
have been the thoughts of these brave men and 
women as they retired at night, with their 
friends beyond the mountains, the wild forest 
all about them, and sheltered by no roof except 
the branches of the trees! How anxious must 
have been the men for the safety of the women 
and children ! The dread of lurking Indians, 
and the fear of wolves and panthers made their 
nights long and their sleep broken. When the 
summer storms swayed the timber, the deep 
thunder shook the forest, and the dense dark- 
ness of the night was pierced by fierce light- 
nings, the hearts of the pioneers must have beat 
anxious and heavy. But the darkest and long- 
est nights must have an ending, and so the 
mornings came — mornings made strangely glad 
by the new and myriad voices of the woods ; 
mornings made beautiful by the play of the 
sunlight upon the foliage newly baptized; 
mornings made sweet by the mingled fragrance 
of many wild flowers. 

Hope and fear walked hand-in-hand beside 
these brave new-comers. Often some part of 
the wagon or cart would give way, then much 
time must be spent in making crude repairs. 
Sometimes a horse would die, and then the 
journey was made more difficult. And some- 



MAKING A STATE. 93 

times a member of the family would sicken and 
die on the journey. It might be father or 
mother, but it was more frequently one of the 
children. The nights were dark and sad with 
no watchers beside the corpse but father and 
mother ; and the day was full of gloom when 
the parents laid their child away by the narrow 
trail and pushed deeper into the unbroken and 
unconquered west. They often passed through 
deep troubles, but they were to build a state, and 
so they pressed forward with unfailing courage. 
When the end of the journey was reached, 
there were nights still to be spent out of doors 
and meals to be prepared in the open air while 
the cabin was being made from the trees of the 
forest. Where there were other settlers near, 
they always came to help the new-comer build 
a home. These first homes were very little 
like the splendid ones that now cover our state. 
They were made of round logs, and were 
"chinked and daubed," to keep out the rain, 
wind, and cold. The roofs were made of clap- 
boards and held in place by long poles. They 
had no nails with which to fasten them on. 
The floors were of heavy rough puncheons, split 
from logs, and the chimneys were made of 
sticks and mud. The doors were made of clap- 
boards, pinned on a wooden frame and hung 
on wooden hinges. The door fastened with a 
wooden latch, to which was attached a string, 



94 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



which is said always to have hung out in the 
day time. At night it was drawn in and the 
door made fast. There was no glass to be had 
in the wilderness, so the one window was cov- 




ered with paper, greased so as to let in as much 
light as possible. 

The furniture and kitchen-ware were very 
limited and in harmony with the cabin. In 
every home the rifle hung above the door. 
Often no chairs, tables, or bedsteads were 



MAKING A STATE. 95 

brought, so they were roughly made from the 
timber of the forest. They were not planed or 
polished, but they well served an earnest 
people. Beds were made by boring holes in 
the puncheons of the floor, into which posts 
were placed, and these connected with the wall 
by means of poles. This rough frame was 
covered with boards and on these was placed 
whatever bedding the family possessed. 

If any cloth covered the rough table, it was 
of homespun linen. Cooking was done by the 
great open fireplace. The chief cooking 
utensils were the kettle, frying-pan and skillet. 
The kettle swung from a pole fastened in the 
chimney above the fire. The frying-pan was 
attached to a long handle and did all the serv- 
ice indicated by its name. The skillet was of 
large size and had an iron cover. It was 
chiefly used for baking bread, and better bis- 
cuits than the ones these skillets held never 
came from the finest oven. The meals were 
served from pewter dishes and blue-edged cups 
and saucers. In the corner stood the spinning- 
wheel, and the gourd hung in the kitchen and 
by the well. The one room was at the same 
time kitchen, dining-room, bed-room, sitting- 
room, and parlor. 

As soon as the house was built, the forest 
was attacked. There were giant trees and 
dense underbrush to be cleared away before 



96 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the soil could be tilled. There was no time to 
deaden the timber and wait for it to die and 
dry. The land must be cleared in the green. 
The trees were felled, then cut or "niggered" 
into logs, which were rolled together and 
burned. The clearing of the first farms was 
very slow, but the soil was fresh and fruitful, 
and a small spot around the cabin produced 
enough to supply the simple wants of the fam- 
ily until the clearing grew. The stock found 
food and shelter in the forest, where grass and 
nuts grew in abundance. At first there were 
no stores in the wilderness, and there was but 
little connection with the outside world. The 
pioneers did without what the wilderness did 
not produce. Herbs were gathered for medi- 
cines, flax and wool were spun into clothing, 
and sorghum served in the place of sugar. 
Surrounded as we are by all the comforts of 
civilization, it is not easy for us to understand 
how our ancestors faced such difficulties, yet 
they speak of those times as golden days. The 
common hardships and dangers of the wilder- 
ness made them all seem akin, and made 
friendships strong. If a deer were killed, it 
was shared with the neighborhood. Every 
new arrival was welcomed with open arms and 
no stranger was ever turned away hungry or 
unsheltered from the door of a pioneer. 

During their first years in the west the bread 



MAKING A STATE. 97 

of the pioneers was generally made of corn- 
meal. The corn was grated or ground 
by hand. After a while rude mills we^re 
erected along the rivers and the water 
was made to do the work of many hands. 
There was but little money, and commerce 
consisted chiefly in an exchange of articles 
among neighbors. Sometimes an enter- 
prising farmer would collect the produce 
and other articles of commerce of his com- 
munity, and take them on a flat-boat down the 
Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. It then 
took more than three months to make the trip. 
Some of his cargo he exchanged for other 
articles needed by the settlers, and for a part 
of it he received money. His return was sure 
to bring joy to the settlement from which he 
had gone. 

Wheat harvesting in this new country was 
done with a sickle and the wheat was threshed 
with a nail. Vegetables grew in abundance 
and wild hogs, deer, and wild turkeys were so 
numerous that it was not difficult to supply the 
family with meat. Squirrels, rabbits, and fish 
were also plentiful. Then men did not return 
empty-handed when they went hunting or 
fishing. In some places there were so many 
wolves that they often made raids on the 
stock of the farmers, killing and carrying away 
their pigs and lambs. To protect their flocks, 



98 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the farmers organized and destroyed the wolves 
in great numbers and frightened the others 
until they were not so bold. 

In ordinary sickness the pioneers were their 
own physicians, but sometimes home remedies 
failed, or an accident occurred which required 
skillful treatment. It was then necessary to 
send a long distance for a physician and wait 
long for his coming. One case is recorded 
where an accident happened and the people 
were compelled to send a hundred miles for a 
surgeon. 

The outside world seldom heard from these 
conquerors of the wilderness and they knew 
but little of the great world outside. There 
were no telegraphs, no telephones, no limited 
mails, no swift steamboats, and, at first, not 
even any stage coaches to carry news to and 
from the wilderness. A lone horseman, hired 
by the Government, brought to the settlements a 
few letters from the friends left behind, and car- 
ried with him on his return messages to these 
same friends. His work was difficult and dan- 
gerous. Each letter cost twenty-five cents, 
which was to be paid by the one receiving it. 
Sometimes the person to whom the letter was 
sent was not able to pay the postage, so the let- 
ter remained in the office. 

Many of the first settlers were members of 
church and nearly all had been trained in 



MAKING A STATE. 99 

moral homes. When they came into the new 
western country, they brought with them the 
spirit of right-doing. At first there were no 
religious services except those conducted in 
the home by the wide fireplace. .However, in 
the wake of the pioneers, came ministers, at 
great intervals, passing from settlement to 
settlement, preaching for the good that they 
might do. They were received by the settlers 
with open arms and welcomed into their 
homes. Services were held from house to 
house in the evening in the winter, and under 
the trees on the Sabbath days in summer. The 
old-time hymns mingled with the voices of 
nature, and the wilderness was glad. 

At these outdoor meetings the boys would 
perch on the limbs of the trees and listen to 
the strange words of the preacher. Mothers 
drew about them their younger children and, 
while the crowd was gathering and after the 
service, the strong farmers talked over their 
common hardships. These first preachers were 
strange men and strangely dressed. One is 
described as wearing a wampum belt, leather 
leggins, beaded moccasins, and a cap of coon 
skin. The appearance and earnest preaching 
of such a man wonderfully affected even the 
children. 

In 1S10 the first Protestant sermon delivered 
in Indiana was preached at Vincennes, and 



IO0 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Governor Harrison was one of the congre- 
gation. 

The occasional preacher was followed by the 
circuit rider and pioneer ministers of dif- 
ferent denominations. These ministers were 
usually men of simple habits, were plain in 
dress, and were inspired with high purposes. 
They were not afraid of Indians, wild 
beasts, or swollen streams. They traveled 
on horseback, following blazed paths or In- 
dian trails, and each one usually carried a 
gun on his shoulder. They grew accustomed 
to hardships and were usually able to protect 
themselves under any circumstances. Their 
preaching was more eloquent, their doctrines 
more severe, and their language less perfect 
than what we now hear. The forests and the 
pioneer life were rich with illustrations from 
which they largely drew to impress the earnest 
lessons they taught. The people heard them 
gladly and cared little about denominational 
lines. They were anxious to hear the truth, 
whoever spoke it. High praise is due these 
pioneer ministers. No other class of men did 
more to conquer and refine the wilderness than 
they. 

The laws were administered by judges who 
had large circuits, and traveled from one county 
seat to another. Like the early preachers, they 
went on horseback, and followed the Indian 



MAKING A STATE. 101 

trails or the blazed ways. The judges and law- 
yers usually traveled together, spending many 
days on the journey, exposed to all the incon- 
veniences and hardships of those early times. 
At certain seasons of the year the greatest 
obstacles in the way of travel on horseback were 
the swollen streams. Crossing them at such 
times was as dangerous as it was disagreeable. 
They were too deep to be forded, so the horses 
must be able to swim across. One of the 
highest qualities of a good horse at that time 
was to be a good swimmer. The papers of the 
court were always well wrapped and securely 
fastened about the shoulders of the judge, that 
they might be kept dry, but even this did not 
always save them. 

In making Indiana the brave women took a 
distinguished part. It was their sacred duty to 
bring up their children worthily. The church 
and school were not yet strong in the wilder- 
ness, so her daily life must be the standard 
by which the children were guided. 

The high character of our citizenship tells 
how faithfully she discharged her important 
duties. The husband must be about his work 
in the field and in the woods. This left the 
home exposed to the attacks of lurking Indians. 
She learned to handle the rifle that she might 
defend the house in the absence of the hus- 
band. She was always anxious when the hus- 



102 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

band was away — not alone for her own safety, 
but also for that of her husband, and his 
home-coming always brought gladness with it. 
Often she helped her husband, even with the 
heavy work of clearing and tilling the land. 
In this the daughter as well as the mother 
joined. Her home was her pride, and rough 
as it was, she must keep it neat and clean. 
The chief articles of clothing, as well as the 
table linen and clothing for the beds, were all 
the work of her own hands. The tow-linen, 
the linsey-woolsey, and the jeans were all made 
by her. The clack of the loom and the hum of 
the wheel could be heard from morning till 
night. Whatever the conditions might be, she 
must keep her heart brave; so her song often 
mingled with the hum of her wheel, and 
formed a part of the great labor chorus of the 
new west. 

New settlers came in increased numbers and 
neighbors increased. The farms grew larger 
and the wild animals found other homes. The 
hum of the wheel was heard from house to 
house and -neighborhoods began to touch 
elbows. The first rough cabin homes, hur- 
riedly built, gave place to homes of hewed logs 
of more rooms. Glass was found for the 
windows, and the old puncheon floors were 
given up for those made of planks. More and 
better furniture was brought into the homes. 



MAKING A STATE. 103 

The cultivated flowers began to bloom alongside 
the wild flowers and the fragrance of the 
orchard mingled with jthat of the wild plum 
and cherry. Stores were established and the 
church and school came into the wilderness. 
Neighborhoods united and formed larger com- 
munities, and these formed townships and 
counties, and thus the state was made. It was 
done by brave men, with hoe and ax and plow, 
and by noble women, with carding comb and 
spinning-wheel. 




io4 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



VII 

Into the Union. 



IN the early history of America two rival 
nations claimed the unsettled territory of 
the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Each one 
was anxious to possess this region, so rich and 
vast. The English claimed the territory by 
right of discovery, by right of treaty, and by 
right of exploration. The Cabots had discov- 
ered and explored the northern part of the 
Atlantic coast, and England set up her claim 
from "sea to sea." The charters granted by 
her included all the land from ocean to ocean. 
The Iroquois and Miami Indians also claimed 
this territory as their hunting grounds, but by 
a treaty placed it under the protection of the 
English. English traders and hunters had 
explored the valleys of the Ohio, Cumberland, 
and Tennessee rivers, and on their banks had 
built a few rude huts. The claims of the 
French were based upon discovery, exploration, 
and settlement. Verrazani had sailed along 
the eastern coast from Georgia to* Newfound- 
land. In 1534. Cartier had discovered the St. 



INTO THE UNION. 105 

Lawrence River, and had explored the same in 
the years immediately following-. La Salle, 
Marquette, and other Frenchmen had explored 
the Ohio and the Mississippi. Following these 
explorations, the French had made settlements 
along these rivers and on the banks of their 
tributaries, and thus occupied the disputed 
territory. 

Benjamin Franklin early saw the possible 
greatness of this wild region and the impor- 
tance of England's possessing it. In 1754 he 
said: "The country back of the Appalachian 
Mountains must become, possibly, in another 
century, a populous and powerful dominion, 
and a great accession of power to either Eng- 
land or France. If the English delay to settle 
that country, great inconvenience and mis- 
chiefs will arise. The French will increase 
much more and become a great people in the 
rear of the English!" He then urged the Eng- 
lish government to take possession and plant 
one stronghold on the Ohio River and another 
on Lake Erie. 

Much confusion and conflict grew out of this 
dispute. The English settlers disliked the 
French, and the French settlers as heartily dis- 
liked the English. The Indians came to under- 
stand the enmity between the two nations, and 
took sides with the French. Their restlessness 
and their attacks upon the English frontiers so 



106 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

frightened the colonists that emigration to this 
new country was turned back for a time. The 
rivalry that should have been settled peaceably 
by the Kings of France and England was 
settled by a war between their subjects in 
America. This conflict is called the French 
and Indian War. It resulted in the overthrow 
of the French in the Northwest Territory. It 
closed with a treaty of peace signed in Paris in 
1763. By the treaty, France gave up her claim 
to all the territory east of the Mississippi, 
except a small portion in Louisiana. The 
whole of the disputed territory came under the 
control of England, and lay waiting to be 
settled and tamed by her subjects. We shall 
see how much interest she showed in the settle- 
ment and development of this empire of forest 
and prairie. 

Under their charters the colonies on the 
coast now owned the lands lying back of them, 
at least as far as the Mississippi, and the 
development of these lands would add power 
to the colonies. So long as the French claimed 
this territory, the English government was 
anxious to extend the settlements beyond the 
mountains and hold the French in check. As 
soon as the claims of the French were defeated 
and England was left in full possession of the 
contested territory, her attitude on the question 
of settlement became very much changed, 



INTO THE UNION. 107 

She no longer encouraged pioneering, but 
placed many obstacles in the way of those who 
desired to cross the mountains and settle on the 
new lands. She was already jealous of the 
growing power of the colonies and wished to 
limit it. If they should learn of the unbounded 
riches of this vast empire they would become 
more conscious of their power and therefore 
more dangerous to the mother country, should 
a conflict come. The restlessness for freedom 
was already moving the minds and hearts of 
the colonists. 

The attitude of the mother country did not 
turn many back from their purpose to climb 
the mountains and establish their homes farther 
to the west. The colonists were not willing 
that this rich and beautiful country should bear 
nothing but wild fruit, so many of them 
crossed the mountains and began their attack 
upon the wilderness. Then England began 
courting the good will of the French settlers. 
She desired their assistance should any trouble 
arise between her and her colonists. All the 
people in this territory were to be governed by 
the French laws, rather than by the English. 
The French institutions were recognized, and 
many other favors were granted by England 
to the French, her enemies, against the pioneer 
settlers, her children. These are to be num- 
bered among the many unwise acts of the 



108 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

mother country toward the colonies. Each one 
led on toward the Revolution which freed the 
colonists from English rule, and opened up this 
unconquered empire to those who had the 
courage to conquer it. 

In the struggle for independence England 
incited the Indians to take up arms against the 
settlers west of the mountains. Her attitude 
toward the settlement of the west, after the 
French and Indian War, was such that the 
Indians looked upon the colonists and England 
as entirely different. In this manner the 
English had gained the good will of the 
Indians, and turned it to a good account in 
the conflict that followed. The British author- 
ities supplied the Indians with arms and ammu- 
nition and encouraged them to plunder and 
kill the settlers wherever found. No settle- 
ment was safe, and individual homes were in 
constant danger. Settlements were extended 
beyond the mountains at a fearful cost of life 
and property. But peace came at last. A 
treaty was signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, 
by which England acknowledged the United 
States to be free, and ceded to her all the land 
lying south of Canada, east of the Mississippi, 
and north of Florida. 

In his Old Northwest, Mr. Hinsdale 
says: "Between 1748 and 1783, the western 
question presented three distinct phases." 



INTO THE UNION. 109 

From 1748 to 1763, England and France 
struggled for possession, and England won in 
the French and Indian War. From 1763 to 
1775, there was a right for supremacy between 
the white man and the red man. In 1763, 
Pontiac formed a conspiracy for the purpose of 
beating back English emigration from the west. 
In the summer of that year all the garrisons 
of the Northwest were attacked at the com- 
mand of Pontiac, and many of them fell into 
the hands of the savages. General Bouquet 
marched into the wilderness and beat off the 
Indians. The Ottawa chieftain soon found that 
the task was too great even for his combined 
forces, so he entered into a treaty of peace in 
1 7 65 , at Detroit. During the twelve j^ears follow- 
ing the treaty with Pontiac the British govern- 
ment was busy trying to win the good will of the 
Indians. From 1775 to 1783, there was a ques- 
tion whether this territory would form a part of 
the United States, or of some foreign power. 
This last question was answered by Colonel 
Clark, who conquered and held the Northwest 
Territory for the United States. 

Before 1763 the laws were administered in 
the French settlements by deputies sent out by 
the royal governors of New France, or of the 
Province of Louisiana. After the French and 
Indian War, imtil the close of the Revolution, 
this western country was under military rule, 



I IO YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

administered by officers at Kaskaskia and Vin- 
cennes. From 1783 to 1787, there was much 
confusion in the government of the territory of 
which Indiana formed a part. New York, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia had 
certain claims on the Northwest Territory, and 
these claims overlapped one another. Under 
her charter Virginia claimed from sea to sea. 
This gave her all the territory lying between 
the 38th and 41st parallels of latitude. Vir- 
ginia's claim was strengthened by the fact that 
in 1744 the Iroquois had deeded to her all the 
lands claimed in her charter. The claim of 
Virginia was still further strengthened by 
the conquest of Colonel Clark, who had 
conquered the whole Northwest under the 
direction and authority of Virginia. As early 
as 1684, the Iroquois had placed themselves 
under the protection of King Charles and the 
Duke of York, and again, in 1726, conveyed all 
their lands in trust to the King of England. 
Upon these acts New York claimed the lands of 
the Iroquois. As they had hunted, fought and 
fished o\ T er all the Northwest Territory', they 
claimed it by right of conquest. Thus New 
York acquired her title to the territory claimed 
by Virginia. The claims of the other colonies 
were based upon their charters. Indiana was 
claimed by Virginia, New York and Connecti- 
cut. Virginia and New York claimed the whole 



INTO THE UNION. m 

of the state, and Connecticut claimed that por- 
tion lying north of the 41st parallel of latitude. 

It was not until a general interest in the 
lands beyond the mountains was aroused that 
these land claims were brought forward. 
When civilization began to climb the mountains 
and look toward this fertile empire, the owners 
became alive to the importance of their posses- 
sions. Soon after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence the question of disposition and control of 
these lands was brought before Congress. 
There was a general feeling that the Confedera- 
tion could realize a great deal of money if it 
could get possession of this territory and sell 
it. Then the colonies claiming the lands came 
forward to defend and protect their claims. 
The controversy growing out of these claims 
greatly delayed the formation of the Confedera- 
tion. 

Through the patriotism of the colonies the 
difficulty was finally settled. New York was 
the first to surrender her claim to the general 
government. In 1780 she gave Congress the 
right to take such of her western lands as it 
saw fit and dispose of them for the good of all 
the colonies that would sign the Articles of 
Confederation. This patriotic step on the 
part of New York made possible the settlement 
of the whole matter. Other colonies followed her 
example. Her offer was formally accepted by 



1 1 2 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Congress in 1782. Two years later Virginia 
ceded to the government all her lands north- 
west of the Ohio except 150,000 acres, which 
were to be granted to Colonel Clark, his soldiers 
and officers. This grant lies in Clark County, 
Indiana, and is still known as Clark's Grant. 
April 19, 1785, Massachusetts deeded to Con- 
gress the tract of land owned by her and lying 
between the Hudson and Mississippi rivers. 
With some reservations, Connecticut surren- 
dered her claims the following year. In this 
manner the lands lying northwest of the Ohio 
became public lands under the control of the 
United States. Much praise is due these colonies 
for their generous action toward the general 
government. 

It now became necessary for Congress to 
provide some general form of government for 
this empire beyond the mountains. After 
much discussion and deliberation, Congress 
passed an ordinance for the government of this 
newly acquired territory. It is known in his- 
tory as the Ordinance of 1787. It was the first 
government exercised over this dominion after 
it was wrested from England. It provided 
that Congress should appoint a governor for a 
term of three years, and three judges to serve 
during good behavior. The governor and 
judges were given the power, until such time 
as the people should elect a general assembly, 



INTO THE UNION. 113 

to choose such laws from those governing - the 
colonies as were suited to the conditions of the 
wilderness. As soon as these laws were 
approved by Congress they became the laws of 
this territory. 

The Ordinance further provided that, as soon 
as there were in the district five thousand male 
inhabitants, they might organize into a terri- 
tory with a governor, legislative council, and a 
house of representatives. Provisions were also 
made for a general system of public schools and 
for freedom of worship. On the question of 
slavery it said that "except for the punishment 
of crime there shall be neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude. ' ' It provided for the 
admission into the Union of all the states 
carved out of this territory, if their constitutions 
were in harmony with the constitution of the 
general government. This Ordinance is con- 
sidered one of the greatest and most important 
state papers mentioned in history. 

Arthur St. Clair was appointed Governor ©f 
the territory in 1787 and served until 1802. In 
the year following his appointment he pro- 
ceeded to organize the government. From the 
first he experienced much difficulty — both on 
account of the Indians and of the French. The 
Indians were unfriendly to the colonists, and 
the French did not understand English laws 
and institutions. They had grown into their 



1 1 4 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

way of thinking, and could not be readily 
brought into sympathy with laws and customs 
other than their own. During the first few 
years of St. Clair's administration there was 
in the Northwest but little government of any 
kind. Colonial laws were not fully established 
in the wilderness until the mountains were 
crossed and the wilderness settled by those 
who were acquainted with the laws and were 
in sympathy with them. 

In 1800, Ohio was set off from the Northwest 
Territory, and the remainder was named the 
Indiana Territory. Indiana Territory began 
its independent existence on the 4th of July, 
with William Henry Harrison as Governor. 
The first capital of the Territory was located at 
Vincennes, where it remained until 18 13, when 
it was removed to Corydon. The total popula- 
tion of the Territory at this time was 5,641. 
What is now the State of Indiana then con- 
tained a population of 2,514 souls. An elec- 
tion was held in January, 1805, and in February 
following the territorial government for 
Indiana Territory was organized at Vincennes. 
Michigan Territory was separated from Indiana 
Territory in 1805, and in 1809 Illinois Territory 
was organized. This left to Indiana the same 
territory that she now occupies. 

September 24, 181 2, Governor Harrison 
learned that he had been appointed to com- 



INTO THE UNION. 115 

mand the army of the Northwest in the second 
war with England, and therefore resigned his 
position as Governor. After his resignation 
John Gibson, Secretary of the Territory, acted 
as Governor until the arrival of Governor Posey, 
in May, 181 3. Congress passed an act in 
April, 18 16, enabling Indiana Territory to 
organize and enter the Union as a state. An 
election was held and delegates were selected 
to frame a state constitution for the Territory. 
On the 10th day of June, 18 16, the delegates 
met at Corydon, and were in session nineteen 
days when they completed their work. 

The first election under the new constitution 
was held in August, and Jonathan Jennings 
was chosen Governor. In November the 
General Assembly met and chose two United 
States Senators and the state officers as pro- 
vided in the constitution. 

Indiana's first constitution was very much 
like her present one, which went into effect 
November 1, 185 1. These are some of the 
provisions in which they differ : The General 
Assembly then met annually; it now meets 
every two years. The Governor's term of 
office was then three years instead of four as it 
now is. The Governor then appointed the 
Judges of the Supreme Court for a term of 
seven years; they are now elected by the 
people for a term of six years. The Secretary, 



n6 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



Auditor, and Treasurer of State were then 
chosen by the Legislature, while they are now 
chosen by the people. It will be seen that the 
present constitution is much more democratic 
than the first one. In this manner Indiana 
was brought into the Union out of the ungov- 
erned wilderness of the Northwest. 




* £< Jb 



# 4S%«Afc?l 




THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 117 



VIII 

The School House on the Hill, 



THOSE were courageous men and women 
who left comfortable homes in the east 
and sought new homes in the wilderness, 
beyond the borders of civilization. The wide 
wilderness with its unclaimed lands was attrac- 
tive in its promises of future wealth. These 
pioneer fathers and mothers desired for their 
children the wealth and land that this untamed 
territory offered. In making their decision to 
push beyond the mountains into the forest, 
many serious thoughts came to trouble them. 
Life consists of more than lands and money. 
In the wilderness they would find few homes, 
no society, no churches, and no schools, only 
the splendid forests growing, from which 
homes, churches, school houses, and even cities 
should be built. Such surroundings were not 
the most inviting to those anxious about the 
future of their children. 

But they came with courage for the present 
and with hope for the future. , Their first 
duty was to provide rude homes for their fam- 



1 1 8 yo UNG FOLKS' INDIANA . 

ilies, then the timber must be cleared away and 
crops planted and gathered, that want might 
not come to their homes. These things, easily 
and quickly told, required years of hardest toil. 
As soon as the plainest comforts had been pro- 
vided for these simple forest homes, parents 
began to think earnestly about their children, 
growing into manhood and womanhood with no 
education, except that which they gathered 
from the home, and the rugged lessons taught 
them by the wild forest. 

At first the homes were scattered miles 
apart through the trackless wilderness. Other 
settlers afterward moved in and neighbors 
were brought closer together and neighbor- 
hoods were formed. The wilderness increased 
the sympathy of all and made them seem 
akin. After a while they told one another 
what was in their minds and hearts concerning 
their children, who were daily growing in 
strength of body, but with minds untrained 
and uncultured. They longed and planned 
for better things for their children. These 
thoughts and longings afterward took form in 
the first rough log school houses. 

These were the beginnings that have devel- 
oped into our public school system, which is 
the pride of our people. The foundation for 
this system is the Ordinance of 1787, which is 
discussed in our United States histories. This 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 119 

was an act passed by the United States Con- 
gress for the government of the Northwest 
Territory, of which Indiana was a part. It 
provided that this vast territory should be sur- 
veyed into townships six miles square, by a 
set of lines running north and south, and 
another running east and west. It also pro- 
vided that these townships should be divided 
into lots one mile square and numbered from 
one to thirty-six. Each lot numbered sixteen 
was set apart for the support of a system of 
public schools. When the Ordinance was 
passed, the lands were of little value, but long- 
afterward they were sold for large sums, and 
the money was turned into the common school 
fund, the interest of which is now used in the 
employment of teachers throughout the state. 
In 18 16, a convention was held at Corydon 
and a constitution for Indiana was adopted. 
The framers of this constitution did not forget 
the interests of the boys and girls who were 
afterwards to build and preserve the state; 
and, in remembering their interests, the mem- 
bers of the convention were at the same time 
providing for the highest good of the state 
itself. Through the constitution, they said 
that the preservation of a free government 
depends upon the general diffusion of knowl- 
edge and learning, and made recommendation 
concerning a system of public schools. They 



120 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

advised that the General Assembly should pro- 
vide for the general improvement of all lands 
granted for educational purposes, and that all 
funds arising from the sale of these lands 
should be used for the promotion of public 
education. They also recommended that as 
soon as possible the Legislature should provide 
by law for a general system of public schools, 
wherein tuition should be free and equally 
open to all. 

These were splendid suggestions, but very 
little was done toward carrying them out for 
more than a generation afterward. The question 
of living in the wilderness was still too serious. 
Too many other questions were pressing the 
pioneers for answers. Homes were to be built 
and protected from the Indians, lands were to 
be cleared and tilled, bread and clothing were 
to be provided, and a state was to be wrought 
out of the wilderness. These early settlers 
were compelled to put aside the question of 
educating their children and attend to the 
pressing physical and political wants and needs 
of the wilderness. Public education was dis- 
cussed by the most thoughtful men, but there 
was little progress made along the lines marked 
out by the constitution. 

Feeble efforts were made from time to time 
to carry out the suggestions of the constitution. 
In 182 1 a committee was appointed by the 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 121 

General Assembly to consider and report upon 
a general system of public schools. The com- 
mittee reported in 1824 and the chief features 
of the report were enacted into a law. This 
was the first dim outline of our educational 
system. However, the law failed, as all law 
fails when not supported by public opinion. It 
was provided that the people of different com- 
munities should decide by vote whether they 
would support a school in the midst of them. 
There was a lack of general funds, and in many 
communities the people refused to tax them- 
selves for the support of a public school. They 
generally desired that their children should be 
educated, but not that it should be done at pub- 
lic expense. This local option feature of the 
law made it impossible to establish a general 
system of education. Some districts would 
maintain a school and others would not. 

The following is a copy of the minutes of a 
school meeting held in District No. 7, Hamil- 
ton County, January 8, 183 1. It will be 
observed that the building to be erected was 
superior to the school houses usually built in 
Indiana at this time: 

"We the neighborhood near and about 
Hains Mills met on the 8th day of January 
1 83 1 for the purpose of making of arrange- 
ments concerning of a school house on motion 
J. Colborn chosen chairman and J. Hur- 



122 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

dock clerk on motion of Mr. Colburn it was 
agreed that there should be a house built 20 
feet square built of good hughed logs foundation 
white oak 8^ ft. between the floors with the 
corners sawed down it was further agreed that 
there shall be a shingle roof it is further agreed 
that there shall be one door in the center of the 
side next to the road it is further agreed that 
there shall be four windows 5 ft length each 2 
in front and 2 back it is further agreed that 
there shall be a plank floor oak or ash laid 
down loose loft laid with y 2 inch 2 double it is 
further agreed that there shall be a brick 
chimney fireplace five feet in the back and well 
flared have a harth of brick or stone on motion 
Nathaniel Palmer Wm. Stoops and Isaac Hur- 
dock was chosen trustees for the term of one 
year or until there successors is qualified." 

It must not be thought that the failure to 
establish public schools in certain districts 
deprived all the young people of those districts 
of an education. Many excellent private 
schools were established in the most prosperous 
settlements and some of them are still main- 
tained. But only those who were able to pay 
tuition could attend these schools. 

In 1833 another law was passed which made 
clearer the duties of the officers and the people 
in regard to public education. It made pro- 
vision for the building of houses and the 
hiring of teachers. The district was made 
the unit and was to look after its own affairs. 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 123 

Every able-bodied male of the district who 
was twenty-one years of age and owned land, 
or had a home, was compelled to give two days 
work to the building of a school house. Those 
who did not desire to labor on the building 
could be exempt by paying thirty-seven and 
one-half cents for each day they were expected 
to labor. They were also permitted to pay this 
amount in glass, nails, shingles, or other 
materials necessary to the building. It was 
further provided that persons with children, 
and with property, should pay equitably the 
taxes which the people should assess at 
a meeting called for that purpose. Each 
patron was left to fulfill his contract with the 
teacher. 

Through the efforts of earnest men, the laws 
relating to public education became stronger 
as the state grew older, but for a long time the 
people were permitted to vote or refuse to 
vote taxes upon themselves to support a school 
in their district. In many districts public 
sentiment was against public schools, and in 
these the law failed to provide for educating 
the children. There were other obstacles in the 
way of the growth of the public school system. 
The public lands brought in but very little 
money. They could not then be sold, and the 
returns from rents were very small. Besides 
the lack of general interest on the part of the 



124 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

people, and the lack of public funds, there was 
a scarcity of good teachers. The men and 
women of that time had generally come into 
the wilderness for other purposes and were 
laboring to accomplish those purposes. 

While the struggle for a general system of 
public schools was going on, a system of 
county seminaries was established by law. 
Wherever a sufficient amount of public money 
had accumulated in a county, it was provided 
that a seminary should be built in which tuition 
should be free to all persons of proper age who 
desired to attend. Though these seminaries 
failed at length for want of proper support, 
they were a great power in the development of 
our present public school system. Many a 
young man can point with pride to the old 
seminary as the basis of his educational life. 
From these schools there went forth strong 
young men and women, whose influence did 
much to pave the way for the higher educa- 
tional advantages that we now enjoy. In com- 
munities where these schools were established 
their influence can still be felt in the intellec- 
tual life of the people. Some of the buildings 
are still standing as landmarks, but are serving 
other purposes than those for which they were 
erected. For these seminaries, principals were 
usually employed who could take charge of the 
school and the public funds, advertise the 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 125 

school, employ ^assistants and give scholarly 
service, all for a very small salary. 

The census of 1840 showed that one grown 
person of every seven could neither read nor 
write. This was an alarming condition in a 
country where the strength of the government 
depends upon the intelligence of the people. 
This report stimulated the friends of a public 
school system to more earnest action. The 
question of free schools was to be voted upon 
by the people in 1848. Public meetings were 
held throughout the state, and a vigorous cam- 
paign was carried on by the leaders in the 
movement. In the fight the press was on the 
side of free schools. When the vote was 
counted, it was found that about sixty per cent 
of the voters had cast their votes in favor of 
free schools. 

A new constitution was formed in 1851. The 
summer and fall before the meeting of the con- 
stitutional convention was spent by the friends 
of public education in arousing the people on 
the subject. From the stump and the pulpit 
and through the press the question was 
earnestly brought to every voter. 

The educational leaders made use of every 
means to advance their cause, nor did they 
labor in vain. This new constitution made 
provisions for an elaborate system of public 
schools. With this constitution as the founda- 



126 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

tion, the General Assembly enacted laws for 
the establishment of a system of public schools. 
These laws contained the chief features of our 
present system. Some changes have since 
been made and there have been additions both 
bylaw and by general custom. Each year sees 
a growth in the system toward greater perfec- 
tion, and each year it becomes a source of 
greater pride to the people of Indiana. 

The system is administered by the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, the State Board 
of Education, county superintendents, city and 
town school boards, township trustees, and 
truant officers. Through these officers every 
school in the state, even those in the woods 
among the hills, may be reached. Every good 
thought of the highest officer may be carried 
into these remote schools. There is now no 
community in the state that is not within reach 
of a free school, and higher education, through 
the township and village high-school, is coming 
nearer each year to the boys and girls of the 
country. At the head of the state school sys- 
tem is Indiana University, offering splendid 
opportunities to the ambitious boys and girls of 
the state. The State Normal was established 
for the purpose of educating teachers for their 
special profession. The influence of this school 
upon the educational development of the state 
cannot be measured. Purdue University pre- 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 127 

pares young men and women for special trades, 
and thus sends out into the business world 
men and women educated and specially trained 
for their work. 

In the development of this, system, the 
various church organizations have played an 
important part, and are still maintaining 
schools and colleges of high character. They 
are worthy of much attention, but we are con- 
sidering only the system of public education, 
and that but briefly. 

The first school buildings erected by the 
pioneers of Indiana resembled very little the 
splendid frame, brick, and stone buildings of 
to-day. When these first settlers came, 
houses existed only in the trees of the 
forest. They had neither time nor means for 
building better. There were no mills or 
quarries, no architects, few carpenters and 
fewer tools. Houses must be built according 
to these conditions. 

When a community decided to build a school 
house, a suitable place for building was 
selected. As much of Indiana was then wet 
and swampy, school houses were usually built 
upon some hill or knoll. When the people 
were ready to begin the building, they would 
come together with saws, axes, and hammers, 
each man prepared to do his part. These new- 
comers to the wilderness were themselves 



128 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



being educated by coming together for a 
worthy purpose, and these were joyous times 
for most of them. The trees were felled, 
and the logs were hewn, notched and put 
together. Each man did what he could best 




THE OLD LOG SCHOOL HOUSE. 

do, — those least accustomed to using tools doing 
the rougher work. 

The spaces between the logs were filled with 
"chinking" and mortar. An enormous space 
at one end of the building was set apart as the 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 129 

fire-place. The floors of the first buildings were 
made of puncheons, — timbers, — split from logs 
and smoothed on the upper side. The seats 
were also split, and not sawed. There were no 
desks in front of the children, except when they 
were at the writing desk, which was a long 
puncheon, placed upon pins driven in the 
walls. Two smaller pins supported the switches 
of the teacher, who thought such things neces- 
sary to the government of the school. In 
these wilderness schools, "apparatus was 
scarce, but the sources of discipline were 
abundant. ' ' The roof was made of rough 
boards, "rived" from the oaks of the forest. 
The windows were long and narrow. In some 
places glass could not be gotten, so the light 
was let in through paper, oiled and put in for 
windows. These were rude places of learning, 
but they were prepared by a brave, devoted 
people, and from them there went forth strong 
men to fill responsible positions, to found good 
homes, and to become worthy citizens. 

When the school house ' was completed and 
furnished, after the manner of those days, the 
people of the district would come together in a 
school meeting. In this meeting they decided 
what taxes they would vote for the support of 
the school, what amount of produce they would 
pay the teacher whom they should hire, and 
where the produce should be delivered. They 



130 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

would also select a teacher, who must know the 
English language and be able to teach read- 
ing, writing and arithmetic. If a teacher could 
write a beautiful hand, perform wonderful feats 
in arithmetic, or spell down the whole neigh- 
borhood, he was certain of employment. 

The teachers of these early days usually came 
from the more eastern states, but some of them 
even came from the old country. They were 
men seeking adventure and fortune in the wilds 
of America, and taught school while they were 
waiting for something to "turn up." At first 
none but men were employed as teachers. 
These were not always good men, but many of 
them were earnest and strong, and left upon 
the wilderness and its young people impres- 
sions of lasting good. 

These pioneer schools were little like the 
schools of 1898. Great changes have come to 
Indiana since the first school was opened within 
her borders. The buildings, furniture, and 
apparatus of the present remind us of a new 
world of education. Side by side with this 
growth have come changes equally great in 
the courses of study, character of teaching, and 
methods of school government. 

The salary of the teachers was very small, 
and was paid in part in butter, eggs, poultry, 
potatoes, and other produce. Sometimes the 
teacher boarded round. He was always a wel- 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 13 1 

come and an honored guest. He was given the 
best bed, the choice place by the fireside, the 
most comfortable chair, and the seat of honor 
at the table. In this manner the good teacher 
successfully reached both parents and children 
and impressed himself upon the whole com- 
munity. 

The school terms were short, but the days 
were long — from nine to ten hours. The days 
were made even longer by the surroundings. 
The pupils were compelled to sit erect, with no 
support for their backs. The benches were 
rough and uncomfortable. They were not 
suited to the size of the pupils, and often the 
feet of the smaller children dangled in the air 
until their legs became numb. The fear of 
punishment frequently added to the unpleasant- 
ness of the situation. If one pupil offended, 
all the pupils on his bench shared the penalty. 
The teacher did not take the pains to separate 
the guilty from the innocent, but would bring 
the full length of his switch down upon the 
backs of the whole row of boys. The switch 
was an important part of the school furniture 
and it never grew rusty or dusty for lack of 
use. The joyous life of the boy or girl was 
not then well understood. All mischief was 
considered evil, and met its just reward. The 
rude life and untamed surroundings of these 
early days created within the children a restless 



132 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

and mischievous spirit. It was sometimes 
troublesome, but seldom harmful. It was but 
the natural expression of their life in a new 
country. 

In many of the schools there was little com- 
panionship between the teacher and his pupils. 
The teacher was not on terms of friendship 
with the children of his school, and thus 
lessened his opportunities for helping them. 
He felt that such a thing would lower his dig- 
nity and interfere with his government, for it 
must be remembered that aristocratic manners 
were often brought into the wilderness. In 
such cases the teacher was the monarch, and 
his pupils were his subjects, with no part in the 
government except to hear and obey. 

But there were many enjoyable events in 
connection with the schools. The longest ses- 
sions must always have a close, so recess came, 
— and such recesses as those were ! The pent- 
up shouts of the school boys made the woods 
ring with glee. The frown, the rough benches, 
the switch and the switching were all forgotten 
in the black-man, town-ball, and bull-pen that 
followed. Water was to be brought from the 
spring, or some neighboring house, and it 
always required two to bring it, however small 
the bucket, and they never chose the shortest 
way, nor hurried to return. The large fire- 
place devoured a great deal of wood, and, so 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 133 

far as the boys could control the matter, no 
wood should be brought in at recess time. 
The bringing in of the wood shortened the 
time between recesses, and gave the boys a 
chance to straighten their tired and cramped 
limbs. Very often the wood must be cut as 
well as brought into the house. This offered 
the larger boys an opportunity which they 
gladly accepted. Those were boys of strong 
muscles and they grew restless when shut up 
in the house. They were glad of a chance to 
use their stored-up strength, even though 
many of them felt that they were doing some- 
thing for nothing. 

Then there was the hour when all the pupils 
were permitted to study their lessons aloud. 
No pupil failed to study at this hour. Every 
one tried his lungs and the boy with the best 
pair was the hero of the occasion, at least in 
his own mind. Little was learned in this way, 
but it broke the monotony of the daily school 
life and served as an escape valve through 
which the boys and girls could harmlessly 
express themselves without danger from the 
teacher. 

In these first days, when the country was 
new, before the hum of the b'usy world had 
drowned the finer voices of our state, there 
were other teachers which the children of 
to-day do not have. They were the teachers 



134 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

of nature, and their lessons went deep into the 
lives of the people of that time. The great 
oaks of the forest lifted their heads like giants 
above the surrounding trees. As they thus 
stood in their strength and beauty, many a boy 
looked upon them, and, without his knowing it, 
there came into his heart a longing to be like 
the oak tree, and in the longing to become, he 
grew more like it. The boys saw them in the 
sun and again in the storm, when the wind 
would beat upon them, and they would bend 
before its fury. Then, when the storm was 
past, they would arise and shake off their weep- 
ing, and stand erect again, stronger for having 
struggled with the storm. Though giants in 
strength and stature, they were kind in 
nature. They stretched out their long, leafy 
branches, inviting the birds to come and nest 
and shelter there. Their deep shade offered a 
resting place for both man and beast. Even 
the flowers felt safe, and clustered around their 
feet, where they were gathered in early spring 
by girls who were likewise not afraid. Every 
young man, who, armed with ax and saw and 
maul, has measured strength with these raon- 
archs of the wood, has gathered lessons not to 
be gotten elsewhere. 

The wild flowers grew in abundance and 
were for any who would pluck them. Their 
fragrance entered in through every open win- 



THE SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE HILL. 135 

dow and into every sick chamber, and their 
beauty into every life. The song birds filled 
and thrilled the woods, and later the orchards 
as well. They sang in choruses, not in quartets 
or as soloists, as they now sing. They had not 
yet been made to feel fear. There was a note 
of gladness and of liberty in all their singing. 
There was life in their music such as we can- 
not buy. 

We must not smile at the schools of these 
early times, though they were not ideal. They 
were planted and sustained in the times of 
beginnings in church, society, commerce, gov- 
ernment, and civilization. They were equal to 
the demands of the new country, and have served 
as a sure foundation upon which the children 
and grandchildren of those pioneer times have 
since builded wisely. 




IX 
Some Old-Time Customs. 



IT was not all shadow in the wilderness, nor 
was it all labor with the early settlers of 
Indiana. There were days when the sound of 
the ax was not heard in the forest, and when 
the pioneer plows were drawn from the ground. 
There were evenings when the hum of the wheel 
was hushed, and all the latch-strings but one 
were drawn, and the fire burned low in all but 
one of the homes of the neighborhood. These 
days and evenings were given up to enjoyment, 
such as the times of our early history offered to 
an earnest people. These customs, which 
grew out of the newness of the country, passed 
away with the pioneer life, and we now delight 
in other customs, which will likewise go as our 
country further changes. 

Every good time was earned by the work 
that went before it — the fun always followed 
136 



SOME OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. 137 

the labor. The husking-bee among the early 
farmers was an occasion both of business and 
pleasure. The corn was "snapped" and placed 
in long ricks, sometimes under shelter and 
sometimes in the open air. When a farmer was 
ready for a husking, the word was passed 
around, and at the time set, all the neighbors 
were present. No one wanted to miss a husk- 
ing. When all were gathered, two captains were 
selected, and the crowd was equally divided. 
Poles or rails were placed across the center of 
the rick, dividing it into two equal parts. The 
captains gave the word to begin, and each 
company charged upon the corn with a full 
determination to win. In the hurry and 
anxiety, many ears of corn were tossed into 
the pile but partly husked, and many more 
were slyly tucked away under the husks. 

At these huskings the bottle or jug was 
always present and was freely circulated. In 
some communities the jug was passed every 
time a red ear of corn was formd in the husk- 
ing. If red ears were scarce, when one was 
found it was hidden away to be brought out 
again after sufficient time had passed. The 
man who planted the most red corn had the 
most popular husking-bees. 

As the end drew near, the excitement and 
anxiety grew more intense. Commands were 
given in louder tones, flying ears filled the air, 



138 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

and more corn was half husked and more cov- 
ered up not husked at all. Soon a shout of 
victory rent the autumn air, and the captain of 
the winning side became the hero of the hour. 
Sometimes he was hoisted upon the shoulders 
of the strongest young men, who carried him 
about the premises, followed by his victorious 
band of corn huskers. 

In some neighborhoods both sexes joined in 
the husking-bee. Instead of dividing into 
two parties, the young men chose partners 
and husked by twos. At such huskings the 
red ear again played an important part. If one 
of the young ladies found a red ear, she was 
entitled to be kissed by all the young men, and 
when a young man found a red ear, that 
entitled him to kiss all the young ladies present. 
It has been hinted that this aroused a great 
deal of interest in planting as well as husking 
corn. 

After the husking, a bountiful supper was 
served, then the floor was cleared and all 
engaged in the fun that followed. Sometimes 
the remainder of the evening was spent in 
playing games, but more frequently the time was 
given up to dancing. It was not a ball-room, 
there were no electric lights, no evening dresses, 
no orchestra, only a log cabin, lighted by tallow 
dips or candles, men and women in home-spun 
garb, led on by the neighborhood fiddler, in a 



SOME OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. 139 

simple dance in which the young and middle- 
aged joined with an enthusiasm born of the life 
of the times. From house to house these 
huskings were repeated, making labor pleasant 
and life joyous. 

The old-fashioned apple -cut ting was an 
occasion of unusual merriment on the outskirts 
of the western wilderness. They were fre- 
quent in the early fall, when the good house- 
wives were making apple- butter and drying 
apples for later use. They were mostly 
attended by the young folks, yet the middle- 
aged people did not hesitate to be present. 
The word was passed from neighbor to neigh- 
bor till all had been notified of the time and 
place of the apple-cutting. None willingly 
missed an occasion of this kind. 

So far as the young people were concerned, 
it was less a time of business than of pleasure. 
A certain number of basketfuls must be pared 
and cut, but much merry-making went along 
with the work. Seeds were counted and for- 
tunes were wisely told. The first letter of the 
name of husband or wife was told with an 
apple peeling. It must be from the whole 
apple and unbroken. Then, by whirling it 
three times around the head and dropping it 
on the floor, it would form that magic letter. 
Here words were whispered that joined hearts 
and made homes in this new west. 



14© YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

After the apples were all pared and the floor 
cleared, the remainder of the evening was 
devoted wholly to en jo) T ment. When the even- 
ing's merry-making was ended, the young 
men escorted the young ladies home by the light 
of torches made of hickory-bark, or of boards 
split and made into small bundles. 

During the winter months of the early years 
of our state's history, the singing-school formed 
an important part of the social life of the people. 
It was little like the class or chorus of to-day, 
which is led by the piano or an orchestra. The 
singing-master then pitched the tunes by the 
aid of the tuning-fork. He also beat time for 
the singers and thus kept them together. As 
there was no instrument to lead, the tone of 
each part was given to those selected to sing it, 
and on a certain beat the singing began. The 
selection was sung by note until the tune was 
very well known, then the words were sung. 
The songs of those days were as little like the 
songs we sing to-day as the pioneer life was 
like the life of the present. They were differ- 
ent both in words and music. They were 
battle hymns sung by fearless men and women 
while conquering the wilderness of the west. 
The notes used in the first singing-schools were 
called "buckwheat notes," because they were 
in shape like grains of buckwheat. 

The young people valued the singing-school 



SOME OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. 141 

more as a place for pleasure than for learning'. 
It brought them together where they could 
exchange greetings and tell of the simple joys 
of their home life. Then it gave them oppor- 
tunities for long rides together. The attend- 
ance depended greatly upon the weather. If 
the sleighing were good, the attendance of the 
young people was very large. As they were 
more interested in one another than they were 
in the singing, they often created confusion 
and made more difficult the work of the 
singing-master. 

Spelling was much more of an accomplish- 
ment with the early settlers than it is with their 
grandchildren. The best speller of the neigh- 
borhood was then as much of a hero as if he 
had taken a city or destroyed a navy. Spelling- 
schools are still popular in some parts of the 
state, but there are none such as there used to 
be. They are no longer the center of interest, 
as they were when they were the chief public 
evening entertainment, and they do not now 
witness such contests as were held in those 
early days. Other interests and attractions 
now control the time and minds of the people. 

Each neighborhood had its own way of con- 
ducting a spelling after the choosing-up, but 
the evening always ended in a contest to decide 
who was the champion speller. The interest 
of the occasion centered in this contest. It 



142 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

was easy to keep order then, for all were inter- 
ested and wanted to hear every word. Some- 
times the spellers stood and spelled by pairs ; 
sometimes all stood at once and spelled around, 
each one taking his seat as he missed. The 
interest and excitement reached the highest 
point when the two would-be champions faced 
each other. Sometimes all the hard words of 
the spelling-book were spelled without lower- 
ing the colors of either contestant. Then catch 
words and foreign names were pronounced 
until one party missed. After the contest was 
over, the victor received the congratulations of 
his friends, and the people returned home to 
discuss the result till the next spelling-school. 

The log-rolling was a necessity in the tim- 
bered districts of Indiana. The woods were so 
thick and the trees were so large that the 
pioneers found their hardest work in clearing 
the land. They could alone cut down the trees, 
pile the brush, pick the chunks, and do the 
grubbing, but they needed help in rolling the 
logs. Out of this necessity grew the custom of 
neighborhoods joining to roll logs in the 
spring. A man who did not cheerfully help on 
such occasions was not considered a good 
neighbor, and found it difficult to get assistance 
in his times of need. 

In preparing for the rollings, the farmers cut 
or "niggered" the trees into logs short enough 



SOME OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. 143 

to be handled by a number of strong men. 
"Niggered" is a term brought into the wilder- 
ness by the emigrants from the south, and 
refers to making the timber into logs by build- 
ing fires ten or twelve feet apart on the fallen 
trees. These fires were "chunked up" every 
morning and evening until the trees were 
burned into logs. In this way the pioneer 
farmer both shortened and lightened his labor. 
The labor of rolling logs was very hard, yet 
these strong-limbed pioneers treated the time 
of log-rollings as a spring holiday season. As 
at the husking-bee, the jug was always present 
and added not a little to the jollity of the occa- 
sion. Sometimes the two strongest men were 
chosen captains to divide the men into two 
companies. Then the territory to be cleared 
was divided and there was a race to see which 
side would first complete its work. There 
were many tests of strength among the strong- 
est men. Sometimes it was man against man, 
sometimes they lifted two against two, and 
sometimes there were teams of four to lift 
against each other. It was a source of great 
pride to be able to hold up one's end of the 
handspike against all comers, and the man who 
was never vanquished bore his honors quite as 
proudly as some birds wear their feathers. It 
is not difficult even now to learn from the old 
residents of the feats of strength performed at 



144 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

these rollings, so well has their memory been 
kept during the forty or fifty years intervening. 

After the logs were all in heaps, there usually 
followed an athletic contest. It was very much 
like our high-school or college field-days, only 
there were not so many rules. There were 
contests in running, jumping, lifting, throwing, 
and wrestling. The vigorous life of these early 
times made the men strong and lithe of limb and 
enabled them to perform many wonderful ath- 
letic feats, but some of the stories we hear 
about the strength and fleetness of the men of 
those days must have grown a great deal as 
they have been handed down to us. No 
trained athletes have ever been able to make 
such records. 

The wives and sweethearts of the men gath- 
ered to help with the cooking, and they pre- 
pared a feast worthy of a king. The day of 
hard labor was usually followed by an evening 
of merry-making. Through these gatherings 
to assist one another, there was developed the 
spirit that conquered and beautified the wilder- 
ness of Indiana. 

Whisky was much more freely used in 
pioneer times than it is now, though not so 
often to excess. It was found in the best 
homes of the state, where it was used both as a 
medicine and as a beverage. It was present in 
the harvest field and at all corn huskings and 



SOME OLD-TIME CUSTOMS. 145 

log-rollings. In those days the use of whisky 
was not thought to be wrong. 

Our grandmothers made a "frolic" of all 
kinds of work whenever it was possible. When 
the men gathered to help one another, they 
went too. Their chief social gathering was the 
quilting-bee. No formal invitations were 
issued. It was enough to know that on a cer- 
tain day there would be a quilting at the home 
of one of the neighbors. At these meetings 
the stout-hearted women of Indiana were mak- 
ing history as well as making quilts. However 
nimbly their fingers moved, or swiftly their 
needles flew, the conversation kept pace with 
the work. Here they discussed their hopes 
and experiences, were brought into closer 
sympathy with one another, and were made 
stronger for the serious duties of the wilder- 
ness. Here wives spoke of experiences that 
they had concealed from their husbands — how 
they had wept alone as they thought of the 
friends and homes they had left, and of the 
long years to be spent in making homes com- 
fortable in this new country. But with such 
thoughts lighter ones were mingled, and in 
their happy associations the rough, hard ways 
of the first settlers were smoothed and softened. 

Each woman was anxious to finish her block 
first and have it as neat as possible. The 
women were quite as proud of their skill with 



146 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the needle as the men were proud of their 
strength at the log-rollings. In the afternoon 
there was hurrying to get the quilt out, as the 
men were to come for supper, and then the 
remainder of the day would be given up wholly 
to enjoyment. Sometimes the quilting-bee was 
given in connection with the log-rolling, and 
the women quilted while the men rolled logs. 

The wool-picking was another time of merry- 
making among the pioneer women of Indiana. 
After the wool was cut from the back of the 
sheep, it was washed by tramping it in tubs. 
After it was thus cleaned, the women of the 
neighborhood were invited to come and bring 
their scissors. The wool was carefully picked 
over, all the loose dirt removed from it, and 
the burs clipped out with as little waste as pos- 
sible. Having been washed and clipped, the 
wool was then combed, carded and spun into 
yarn, then made into clothing by the hands of 
our grandmothers. 



THE OLD LOG FIREPLACE. 147 



X 

The Old Log Fireplace. 



THE old log fireplace stands for the home- 
life of the early settlers with all its joys 
and sorrows. It was made broad and deep, of 
sticks and mud, and in front of it was a hearth 
of clay. Its outlet was a mud and stick chim- 
ney, with an immense throat, whose roaring 
draft made glad music when the winds of 
winter howled about the cabin home. The fire 
was fed from a supply of wood "piled up" in 
the corner of the room in the evening time. A 
huge "back-log" of green wood was a neces- 
sary part of every fire. The "fore-stick" was 
placed on the "dog-irons," which frequently 
were but stones picked up from the fields or 
woods, and the space between the "back-log" 
and "fore-stick" was filled with smaller wood. 
These fireplaces were rough and ugly, but their 
roaring, blazing fires warmed and cheered a 
home-life that conquered the wilderness and 
enriched the whole life of our people. 

In winter, when the snows were deep and 
the evenings were long, the old fireplace was 



*4* YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

fullest of meaning. The family gathered home 
with the coming on of night. The father came 
in from his work and fed the stock, and the 
children came home from the log school house 
and did the evening chores. When supper was 




over, the busy mother usually brought out her 
knitting or her spinning-wheel, the father read, 
and the children prepared their lessons or 
enjoyed their simple plays. In such family 
circles silent influences were at work prepar- 



THE OLD LOG FIREPLACE. 149 

ing men and women for the important duties 
of after years. 

Lessons were generally prepared by the 
flickering light of the tallow-dip, or candle, but 
sometimes without either. There were homes 
where boys studied by the light of the fire. 
They were anxious to learn, and they had no 
lights by which to read, so they gathered bark 
from the hickory trees, fed it to the fire, and 
studied by the light of the burning bark. 
These boys always won in the battle of life. 
The spelling lessons were "given out" by 
father or mother, who also heard the "sums" 
and the reading lessons. Many times the chil- 
dren pronounced the words of the spelling 
lesson to one another, and the older ones helped 
the younger with their "sums." 

Apple-cuttings, spelling-schools, and other 
gatherings, often took the young people away 
from home, and left the father and mother 
alone with the smaller children. These were 
times when the serious questions of pioneer life 
were earnestly discussed. After the little ones 
had been put to bed, the husband and wife 
drew their chairs near each other, and nearer 
the waning fire, and talked in low tones of the 
things that deeply concerned them and the 
life of their children. In this manner, by the 
open fireplace, grave questions were decided by 
our grandparents. 



150 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Sometimes in the home there was a bright 
boy who had outstripped his schoolmates, had 
read all the books in the neighborhood, had 
gathered many lessons from the objects about 
him, and was still unsatisfied. He was longing 
for an education such as he could not get on the 
little farm in the midst of the woods, and he 
worked on secretly, hoping that some day he 
might get the desire of his heart. Father and 
mother understood and were anxious too. 
Could they send him away to school, and still 
support those who remained at home? Thus 
they questioned while they looked into the open 
fire as if seeking an answer, which they found 
in their own hearts before the return of the 
young folks. Father and mother were to make 
a few more sacrifices and the boy was to go to 
school. 

In the fall when the woods were golden the 
children, like the squirrels, gathered nuts to eat 
in winter. On the long winter evenings these 
were brought out and enjoyed as keenly as 
King Nut Cracker himself could have enjoyed 
them. 

Frequently a neighboring family would 
come to spend the evening, and then there was 
fun and frolic without limit. The spinning- 
wheel was placed well back in the corner, and 
all possible room was given to the children, 
who played all the games of the neighborhood, 



THE OLD LOG FIREPLACE. 151 

then romped till they were tired, and finally 
sat down to listen to the songs and stories of 
the older people. The parents enjoyed them- 
selves no less than the children. They talked 
of their daily experiences, told jokes, sang bal- 
lads, and discussed their hopes for the future. 
It had not been long since our war for inde- 
pendence and the second war with England 
were fresh in the minds of the people. Both of 
these furnished interesting topics of conversa- 
tion, for almost every family had been repre- 
sented in one or the other. Stories of the 
Indians were told, and the children listened 
with eager ears and quickened breath. Before 
the end of the visit the apples and cider were 
brought out and added their share to the enjoy- 
ment of the evening. 

The outdoor sports of the boys were such as 
the conditions of the times offered. They 
"rollicked" through the woods, played Indian, 
climbed trees, and hunted birds and squirrels. 
They made their own "firearms," which con- 
sisted of a pop-gun, cross-bow and bow and 
arrow. With the pop-gun they celebrated 
Christmas time, teased their sisters and younger 
brothers, and otherwise amused themselves. 
The wadding for it was made of tow. Their 
chief pleasure was in the bow and arrow and 
cross-bow, with which they practiced until they 
could kill birds and even squirrels with them. 



152 YOUNG FOLKS 1 INDIANA. 

They played marbles as boys do now, but 
the)?- made their own marbles by rolling them 
out of clay and baking them in the fire, and 
thus doubled their enjoyment. Most boys are 
able to invent some kind of amusement out of 
their surroundings, and our fathers and grand- 
fathers were no exceptions. In one home 
three boys were left with their little sister. 
There were no neighbors near and the timber 
was all around them. The boys spent most of 
the day enjoying themselves in various ways, 
but finally decided to entertain their sister, 
which they did in their own way. They 
opened the pig-pen and drove one of the hogs 
into the house and closed the door, then climbed 
upon the stool chairs and laughed at their half- 
frightened sister. 

The girls enjoyed themselves very much as 
they now do, though their "playthings" were 
of their own make and invention, and the idea 
of house-keeping entered more into their play. 
The chief delight of every girl was her play- 
house, built in the chimney corner, or in a corner 
of the rail fence that surrounded the yard. Her 
tea-sets were of acorn cups, or pieces of broken 
blue-edged dishes. Her doll was a rag one, 
but it was just as precious as if it had been 
bought at a toy store, and had real hair and 
could cry and open and close its eyes. The 
floor was carpeted with soft green moss, gath- 



THE OLD LOG FIREPLACE. i$3 

ered in the woods, and no velvet carpet was 
ever richer or more beautiful. The chairs, 
beds, tables, and settee were made of moss, and 
the walls were decorated with toadstools of 
various sizes. No happier hours were ever 
spent in queens' palaces than our grandmothers 
spent in their pioneer playhouses. 

In the first schools of the state, each teacher 
boarded round with his patrons, and his coming 
into the house was a time of glad anxiety. 
The children were glad to have their teacher in 
their home, and the mother was anxious that 
he should have the best of everything. He 
had read more and had seen more of the world 
than they, so he brought new life and learning 
into the home. He helped with the chores, 
assisted the children with their lessons, and 
entertained them with stories of his experience 
as a student at college and as a teacher. He 
became their hero, and long afterward they 
spoke of his visits and repeated his stories to 
their own children by their own firesides. 

In many homes the duties of the day were 
closed with family worship. The family Bible 
was taken down from the bureau or "mantel- 
piece," and the father or mother read a 
chapter. An old-fashioned hymn was sung 
and all knelt on the uncarpeted floor, while the 
father returned thanks for the blessings of the 
day, and prayed that his family might be kept 



154 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



through the night and strengthened for the 
work of the morrow. These were beautiful 
scenes, upon which the old log fireplace looked 
and smiled in the days of log houses and plain 
and simple manners. 




INDIAN THAILAND BUFFALO TRACE. 155 



XI 

Indian* Trail and Buffalo Trace. 



THE first settlers of Indiana found her for- 
ests and plains checkered with a network 
of paths well beaten by the Indian and the 
buffalo. The red men roamed at will over the 
whole of the Ohio valley, but there were certain 
places more beautiful and of more importance 
to them than others. These places were con- 
nected by trails winding through the woods or 
across the prairies. Where the land has not 
been tilled, some of them can still be seen. 
Their chief haunts were in the valleys of the 
Whitewater and the Wabash, and in the region 
about Fort Wayne. 

Fort Wayne was the chief stronghold of the 
Mi amis and guarded the way to the south and 
west. To and through this place bands of 
Indians came in single file from all the sur- 
rounding territory. Thus the wilderness 
around Fort Wayne was marked by many 
Indian paths. Some of these led off to other 
Indian villages, while others stretched away 
into the depths of the wood, growing dimmer 



156 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

in their windings until they disappeared. Fort 
Wayne continued to be a favorite resort for the 
Indians even after they could not call it their 
own. After General Wayne defeated the 
Miamis at Fallen Timbers, the territory includ- 
ing Fort Wayne was ceded to the United States. 
Fort Wayne was then made a depot, where 
the Indians received from the government the 
annual payments for their lands. This brought 
many of them back each year by the old paths 
to their former homes and hunting grounds. 

Near the present city of Peru was a Miami 
village called Mt. Pleasant. It was established 
by Francis Godfroy, the last war chief of the 
Miamis. He was a wonderful man and lived 
like a prince. He was more than six feet tall 
and weighed more than three hundred pounds. 
He was rich and powerful, and drew around 
him a large band of warriors who gladly obeyed 
his commands. His village was not made of 
wigwams, but of two-story log houses, and was 
the chief trading post in that part of the state. 
Many trails led from other villages in the 
wilderness to Mt. Pleasant. The most noted 
one of these was Godfrey's trail, made by the 
Indians living along the Mississinawa and 
Salamonia. 

Ouiatenon was the most noted Indian village 
of the western part of the state. It was strongly 
and beautifully situated about four miles 



INDIAN TRAIL AND BUFFALO TRACE. 15 7 

southwest of Lafayette, on the Wabash River. 
It stood on a high point of land reaching out 
into the river and overlooking the plains of the 
Wea Indians, which are said to have been among 
the richest and most beautiful places of all the 




BUFFALOES ON THE PRAIRIE. 

west. Ouiatenon was in the midst of a region 
rich in fur-bearing animals and the soil of the 
fertile plains produced bountifully under the 
simple cultivation of the Indians. There were 
fish in the Wea River and many kinds of 
game on the prairies and in the forest. It was 



158 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

at the head of the deep water navigation of the 
Wabash. Articles of commerce were brought 
down the river in canoes and here transferred 
to the larger boats and carried to the outside 
world. From the village the river could be 
seen far away, winding its course through the 
plain on its way to meet the Ohio. In one 
direction the prairie rolled away with its 
wilderness of grass, threaded by the broad paths 
of the buffalo. In another direction were 
spread out the plains of the Weas, dotted with 
irregular clumps of forest trees. Over the 
prairies and the plains thousands of buffaloes 
grazed like slow-moving armies uniformed in 
brown. A landscape of such beauty must have 
appealed even to the untrained soul of the red 
man. It is not strange that the Indians felt 
that such a land was a gift to them from the 
Great Spirit. 

The French early established a trading post 
at Ouiatenon and the Indians continued to 
flock hither in great numbers. From this post 
to the Prophet's town at the mouth of the 
Tippecanoe, there was the best known trail in 
Indiana. In the uncultivated places the trail 
can still plainly be seen winding through the 
woods and over the hills that follow the course 
of the Wabash. This is known in history as 
the Tecumseh trail, though it was made before 
Tecumseh came to Indiana. It does not stop 



INDIAN TRAIL AND BUFFALO TRACE. i$9 

at Ouiatenon, but continues on along the 
Wabash to Vincennes. Over this trail Tecum- 
seh and his warriors made many journeys to 
Vincennes to see General Harrison, who was 
then governor of Indiana Territory. It was 
over this route that he traveled on his journey 
to the far south to unite the southern Indians 
in a league to drive the whites beyond the 
mountains. Along this trail the Indians stole in 
silence and robbed and murdered the whites in 
the years just before the battle of Tippecanoe. 

But a little more than a hundred years ago, 
vast herds of buffaloes grazed over the plains 
and prairies of Indiana during the summer 
season. They were few in the timber-lands, but 
numberless on the plains and prairies. In 
spring they came north into Indiana and 
covered the plains in great armies, then, as 
winter approached, retreated to the borders of 
the large rivers, where they sheltered in the 
forest and fed upon the boundless fields of 
wild cane. The oozy soil of the Kankakee 
region furnished them abundant pasturage, 
both in early spring and late fall. It required 
a vast region of rich country to furnish food 
for these roaming armies of the plains. 

As the buffaloes moved back and forth in 
spring and fall, they so beat down the earth 
that their traces still remain. The best known 
buffalo trace in Indiana is the one leading 



160 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

from the Wea plains, near Lafayette, along the 
Wabash to Vincennes, where it crosses the 
river and passes beyond the Ohio into Ken- 
tucky. The tall grass of the prairies was 
divided by paths made by the buffaloes as they 
grazed in long, unbroken lines. These small 
trails that checked the prairies all led into one 
great trail made in their journeyings to and 
from the pasture lands. On his way from Vin- 
cennes to Ouiatenon, Colonel Croghan wrote 
that the country was full of buffaloes. Another 
trail passed up the Ohio from Vincennes and 
crossed the river where Louisville now stands. 

In eastern Indiana another trail reached 
from the Ohio up the valleys of the Miami and 
the Whitewater. Evidences of this trail still 
remain along the Whitewater. This was the 
great highway of the buffaloes on their way to 
and from the Big Bone Lick, south of Brook - 
ville, across the Ohio River. A number of 
buffaloes were seen not far from the town of 
Brookville in 1784, and in the following year 
one was killed in the Whitewater valley. 

The favorite resorts of the buffaloes that fed 
on the pasturage of Indiana were the Big Bone 
and Blue licks of Kentucky. To these salt 
springs they came in armies too great to be 
numbered. The earth for miles around their 
meeting places was beaten bare by the hoofs of 
these restless hordes. It is said that in their 



INDIAN TRAIL AND BUFFALO TRACE. 161 

migrations they obstructed the Ohio River for 
miles. On his voyage down the Ohio Colonel 
Croghan frequently wrote in his journal of the 
great herds of buffaloes seen by him. It was 
told by the Indians that the buffaloes of this 
region all perished near the close of last cen- 
tury. One winter the country was swept by 
a "great cold." The snow lay deep on the 
ground for many months and the animals 
could find no food. The cold and snow con- 
tinued until they all died, and long afterwards 
their bones lay bleaching on the plains where 
they fell alone or in herds. 

In some parts of the state the Indian trail 
and buffalo trace are the same. They were 
paths beaten by both, and for both they were 
public highways across the plains, or through 
the forest. This is true of the trail along the 
Ohio, the one in the valley of the Miami and 
Whitewater, and the one along the Wabash. 
However, there were traces which led far into 
the heart of the wilderness, and were made 
only by the feet of the Indians in their single - 
file journeys from place to place. 

These trails and traces were great high- 
ways over which civilization came into the 
wilderness. Each important trail was as well 
known to the Indians and emigrants as are the 
chief roads known to us. It was important that 
each new-comer should know the trail by which 



162 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

he came and the place to which it led. Out- 
side of these there was little other than a track- 
less wood, and for many years after the first 
settlements were formed these remained the 
only gateways to the west. 

Until 1830 the Indian trail from Fort Wayne 
to Niles, Michigan, was the only road leading 
into the valleys of the Maumee and St. Joseph. 
For many years pack horses came over the trail 
along the Ohio from its falls to Vincennes, on 
the Wabash. Both the French and the Eng- 
ish pushed into the interior over the trail from 
Vincennes to Lafayette. The trace in the 
Whitewater valley is called the Carolina trace, 
because it was the highway over which the 
Carolinians came to find homes in the south- 
eastern part of the state. 

Along these trails the emigrants traveled in 
search of land on which to settle. Along these 
pack-horses threaded their way, loaded with 
simple articles precious to the pioneers. Along 
these there came the power that conquered the 
wilderness and compelled it to yield up its 
hidden wealth to enrich humanity. 




NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 163 



XII 

Nature's Gifts to Indiana, 



NATURE has given bountifully to Indiana. 
She has made her both rich and beauti- 
ful. Few states are blessed with as many 
sources of wealth. There is but little of her 
land that is not productive. Where the hills 
are too steep to be cultivated, and the soil too 
poor to grow wheat or corn, there lie hidden 
rich mines of coal or quarries of stone. Even 
where the forest trees once lifted their heads 
highest, and where the grain now grows rank- 
est, there are beds of coal and stone, and deep 
down are stores of gas and oil. Many sources 
of our natural wealth have been discovered, 
but, doubtless, many more are yet to be 
revealed. 

Our state's chief wealth lies in the fertile soil 
of her abundant farm lands. The valleys of the 
creeks and rivers hold the richest soil, but the 
uplands also respond generously to the labor 
of the farmer. Her pasture lands feed fine 
herds of cattle and her meadows fill the barns 
for winter use. The clover of the hills and 



1 64 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

table-lands gives honey to the bees in summer 
and in winter feeds the cattle. Rye, oats, and 
barley are cultivated in all parts of the state, 
but wheat and corn are the chief farm prod- 
ucts. Farm gardens surround the cities and 
supply the tables of those who labor there. 

The state in summer is one vast picture of 
mingled shades of green, brown and gold. 
Fields of grain stretch away from north to 
south with their different shades of green and 
yellow — surrounding the hills of brown and 
blending their colors with the changing green 
of the bordering forests. Each year Nature's 
artist with his paint-pot of gold, crosses the 
Ohio into Indiana, and as he journeys north- 
ward paints the heads of the growing grain a 
golden yellow. The farmer follows in his path 
and gathers into his barns what the artist has 
touched. The sound of the binder is heard 
along the Ohio, and as the season advances 
it moves toward the north. Before it reaches 
the middle of the state the hum of the thresher 
is heard where the binder first began, and fol- 
lows along in its wake, pouring streams of yel- 
low grain into the granaries of the farmers 
along the way. Though one of the smaller 
states, Indiana has taken rank among the first 
of the agricultural states of the Union. 

On the highlands, among the hills and in 
the valleys, fruits grow both tame and wild. 



NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 165 

Orchards of peaches, plums, pears, apples and 
cherries, enrich the farmers and add to the joys 
of the home. Berries of many kinds grow in 
the woods and gardens. In spring the state 
is like one great flower garden, with her bloom- 
ing orchards and berry farms, and her woods 
decked with the bloom of wild berries. 

Indiana is rich in water courses. No part of 
the state is without streams, either large or 
small. The "Beautiful River" sweeps along 
her southern boundary and welcomes to her 
bosom the waters of the historical Wabash. 
The Wabash is the grand trunk line into which 
flow the principal rivers of the state and 
through which they have final outlet to the 
Gulf of Mexico. The Whitewater carries the 
waters of the southeastern hills into the Ohio 
through the Big Miami. The extreme northern 
part of the state finds outlet into the Great 
Lakes. The small streams of the southern 
hills find their way direct into the Ohio River. 

The first emigrants into Indiana were guided 
greatly by the river courses. For years they 
furnished the power by which the timber of our 
forests was cut into lumber, and our wheat and 
corn were ground into flour and meal. They 
fed the canals that bore our early inland com- 
merce. Upon their waters the products of our 
farms and factories were carried to market. 
They are the channels through which our land 



1 66 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

has been drained and made productive. They 
have enriched their valleys and made them 
bear more abundantly. The river valleys 
were our greatest timber-lands, and to the 
rivers myriads of animals have come to drink. 

Many parts of the state are supplied with 
flowing springs of fresh water. They often 
take the places of wells and around them 
farmers build spring houses, where the milk 
and butter are kept cool in summer. Some 
springs in the state give out mineral water. 
These have become popular resorts for people 
who are ill and hope to become well by using 
the spring water. The water is also shipped 
to people who desire it in their homes as a 
medicine. 

When the first white men came to Indiana 
they found the greater portion of it covered 
with a growth of heavy timber. Small tracts 
of timber land are still preserved throughout 
the state, but they very dimly suggest the deep 
forests of a hundred years ago. Specimens of 
all our forest trees are still found, but they are 
little like the giant trees that covered Indiana 
when it was a part of the hunting grounds of 
the Indians. The principal kinds of timber arc 
beech, maple, elm, sycamore, cotton-wood, ash, 
poplar, walnut, and oak. The monarch of all 
these is the oak. 

No estimate can be placed upon the wealth 



NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 167 

that Indiana possessed in her vast reaches of 
timber-land. The pioneers found the land they 
selected for homes covered with timber, and it 
must be removed before they could plant their 
crops. They were far away from mills and 
markets and were surrounded by a forest that 
seemed unbounded, so they gave no thought to 
the value of the timber. The largest and most 
valuable trees were felled and burned. Rich yel- 
low poplar and the finest black walnut were made 
into rails even after the pioneer days had passed. 
In many needless ways the valuable timber of 
our majestic forests has been destroyed, and 
our state has lost both in wealth and beauty. 

While Indiana was still in mist land, great 
quantities of gravel and sand were collected 
and hidden away for our use. These store 
houses have since been discovered and used in 
various ways. The gravel is used in making 
streets for our cities and good roads for the 
country. Most of the railroad beds of the state 
are also made of gravel. The sands found in 
Indiana are chiefly used in plastering, mold- 
ing, and in making glass. During this period 
fine clays were also formed. These are used in 
making granite ware, roofing and drain tile, 
brick of many kinds, door-knobs, roadways, 
and ornamental pottery. The clay products of 
Indiana in 1896 amounted to $2,675,000. 

During a long period in the formation of the 



1 68 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

world, the heat of the sun was stored up in the 
abundant plant life that was then on the earth 
and put away for the use of man when he 
should come. A large amount of this heat was 
stored up in Indiana, where we now find it in 
our fields of coal, gas, and oil. The coal was 
formed directly from the plant life, but the oil 
and gas were formed indirectly. Millions of 
animals ate the plants that grew on the mar- 
gins of the ancient seas that covered parts of 
the earth. These animals died and before 
their bodies decayed they were buried in a 
covering of lime. In these ancient graves they 
were slowly changed into oil and gas. 

So far as is now known about one-fifth of the 
state is underlaid with coal. The coal fields are 
in the southwestern part of the state. The 
coal is usually found in veins from three to 
eleven feet in thickness, though it sometimes 
reaches a thickness of twenty-eight feet. Indi- 
ana has two kinds of coal — block and bitu- 
minous. The block coal is the better, but it is 
not so plentiful. The whole coal field occu- 
pies 7,000 square miles. Of this field, the 
block coal occupies only 500 square miles. 
There are now about ten thousand men 
engaged in mining in Indiana. The value of 
the coal mined by these men in 1896 was 
almost four millions of dollars. It is said that 
a good ton of coal, when rightly used, will do 



NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 169 

as much work as 1,300 horses working ten 
hours a day. In 1896 more than 4,200,000 
tons of coal were taken from the mines of 
Indiana. This amount of coal could do more 
work than 182,000 horses, working three hun- 
dred days each year for a hundred years. Indi- 
ana is the seventh state in the Union in the 
amount of coal produced. 

Petroleum was discovered in Indiana in 1889. 
Since that time, 5,223 oil wells have been 
"sunk." Of these, only 3,646 are now produc- 
ing oil. The oil field is small, though scientists 
say it will probably spread until it covers all 
the natural gas territory. The territory thus 
far developed is at Broad Ripple, near Indian- 
apolis, and in the northeastern part of the state. 
The oil is pumped from wells more than a 
thousand feet deep, into large tanks, and is then 
refined and marketed. As no oil is now being 
formed in the earth, the supply will sometime 
be exhausted. The oil produced in Indiana 
in 1896 was valued at three millions of dollars. 

Under the northeastern part of the state is a 
great storehouse of natural gas. Its area is 
three thousand square miles. The natural gas 
produced in Indiana in 1896 was valued at five 
millions of dollars. It is the cheapest and 
most convenient fuel thus far discovered. Its 
discovery brought into Indiana wealth and 
population, and changed the gas belt into the 



170 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

manufacturing center of the state. No other 
influence has added so much wealth to the state 
in so short a time. It is not only used in the 
cities and the mills and factories, but it is piped 
over the country and used in the homes of the 
farmers. It is also used as fuel in many of the 
country school houses of the gas belt. In the 
production of gas Indiana stands second 
among the states. 

Great beds of sandstone and limestone were 
formed in the quiet seas that covered Indiana 
many centuries ago. These are both valuable 
for many purposes. The sandstone is of many 
colors, which makes it desirable for purposes 
of trimming. It is chiefly used for building 
houses, foundations, bridges, and for making 
grindstones. 

The limestone is the best building stone of 
the state, and its supply is unlimited. It is 
sawed out in prisms six by ten feet at the ends, 
and of various lengths. When first quarried, it 
is very soft and is easily cut into any form 
desired. It is then smoothed by immense 
planes and made ready to be polished and 
carved by the sculptor. After it is taken from 
the quarries, it hardens until it becomes strong 
enough for use in any building, however large. 
It is used in all parts of the United States in 
building state and court houses and fine resi- 
dences. More than a million and a half dollars' 



NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 171 

worth of building- stone was quarried in Indi- 
ana during 1896. 

Animal life was abundant in Indiana before 
the coming- of the white man into the forests. 
Buffaloes, elks, and deer were plentiful on the 
plains Fur-bearing- animals abounded around 
the lakes and along the rivers. Bears, pan- 
thers, wolves, and turkeys roamed through the 
forests in great numbers. This was a rich field 
for the trapper and hunter, and his hut went 
before the cabin of the settler. These all have 
been destroyed or have retreated to other 
homes, except a few deer or turkeys, that are 
found now and then in the wildest portions of 
the state. Representatives of the smaller 
quadrupeds still remain, though their number 
is not so large. Changes just as great as 
these have come to the bird life of the state. 
These changes have been wrought by clearing 
the woods, draining the swamps and marshes, 
and settling the country. 

Many birds that loved the solitude of the for- 
est left when the woods were no longer dark 
and deep, and in their stead have come others 
that love the home, orchard and farm. The 
larger birds have become fewer in number. The 
shrill cry of the eagle is not so often heard, and 
the "troll -loll" of the raven is now seldom heard 
at all. Hawks are not so numerous and the 
"who-who" of the horned owl less frequently 



172 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

frightens the traveler journeying- through our 
state. The number of ducks, geese and swans 
on our lakes has annually grown smaller. The 
pigeon no longer stirs the hearts of the farmer 
boys in its northward and southward nights in 
spring and fall. Not a great many years ago 
these birds migrated across Indiana in countless 
numbers. It was a most interesting sight to 
watch them, when they stopped in droves to feed 
in the woods. They moved forward like an 
immense ball of feathers rolling over the 
ground, those in the rear flying over those in 
front like boys in a game of leapfrog. Almost 
every county had its pigeon roost, where thou- 
sands of pigeons resorted at night time. 

Of Indiana birds there are 321 species. 
These include birds of prey, runners, swim- 
mers, waders, climbers, perchers and scratchers. 

The southern part of the state has numerous 
caves of exceeding beauty. Of these the 
Wyandotte is the largest. It ranks next to the 
Mammoth Cave in size and excels it in the 
beauty of its limestone decorations. It is 
located in Crawford County and gets its name 
from the Indian tribe that once owned this wild 
region. Since its disco very in 181 2, it has been 
an object of great interest to scientists and 
sight-seers, who have explored almost a hun- 
dred and fifty of its halls and chambers. 

Some of these are reached by creeping, 



NATURE'S GIFTS TO INDIANA. 173 

crawling, climbing, and sliding, but every 
effort is repaid with interest. Near the 
entrance stands on edge a massive stone, weigh- 
ing more than five hundred tons. Long, long 
ago, it fell from the roof of the cave, and, 
though it has remained undisturbed through all 
these centuries, it makes every passer-by feel 
as if it would fall and crush him. On the 
ceiling, not far away, is the "Wyandotte 
Chief," formed of clear white limestone. It is 
the dim outline of an Indian, with tomahawk 
and scalping-knife, as if hiding in the dark to 
take the life and scalp of some white man. 
Each hall and chamber possesses its own 
peculiar beauty and attraction. There is one 
chamber where thousands of bats hang and 
sleep, then wake and whisper and fly away. 
Crawfishes, without eyes, are in the streams; 
there are immense halls with crystal pillars; 
there are mountains with stalactites of clear- 
est limestone ; there are massive columns fluted 
and ornamented with crystal wreaths; and 
there are chambers whose walls and ceilings 
are draped with curtains of wonderful beauty. 
Solomon's Temple could not equal it. It all 
suggests strength, wisdom, and eternity. 

The scenery along our rivers and among our 
hills has entered greatly into the life of our 
people. The Ohio valley has no scenery which 
excels that along the Wabash and Whitewater, 



174 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

and among our southern hills. Some scenes 
are wild and romantic, while others are gentle 
and poetic. There are places where, over 
beds of stone, the river winds among the hills, 
wooded to the water's edge. The hills are 
rounded against the background of sky and 
cloud, and are pictured in the waters at their 
feet. Their wooded sides suggest deeper soli- 
tudes, and the foliage, changing with the sea- 
sons, tinges the surroundings with its varying 
colors. Between the hills, narrow valleys, rich 
with vegetation, come down and meet the river. 
The river banks are fringed with soft willows 
that bend low over the waters below and make 
them dark and shadowy. A purple haze 
hangs over the river and over the hills, and 
the sunsets give to the whole landscape a touch 
of Alpine glory. Artists have recognized the 
beauty of our landscape scenery, and spend 
their summers in the midst of it, while they 
catch its changing beauty and fix it on canvas, 
where we may enjoy it after much of the 
beauty and poetry of nature has been stripped 
from the hills and rivers. 




HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 175 

XIII 

History, Song and Story. 



INDIANA is too young and has been too busy 
to do great things in literature, yet her 
voice has been heard in other lands. Litera- 
ture tells of the life of a people and the beauty 
of their country, and also makes that life richer 
and wiser to understand and enjoy. The men 
and women who came to Indiana were strong 
in character and strong in purpose. The 
wilderness with its trials made them stronger, 
and likewise richer, in their experience. Out 
of this life men and women of genius have 
risen to tell of the deeds of their fellows and 
to sing of their country's beauty. The hills, 
the rivers, the forests, the wild flowers, and 
the bird-life have enriched the hearts of men 
and women and inspired them to write the 
things they felt and saw. The love, the cour- 
age, and the patriotism of Indiana's men and 
women have been recorded in literature by her 
gifted sons and daughters. All the thoughts 
and feelings of our people have been woven 
into literature by the poets, novelists, and 
historians of Indiana. 



176 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Almost every stream has found a patriotic 
voice to celebrate its particular beauty. ' ' Ingin 
Creek" and Brandy wine, as well as the Wabash 
and Ohio, have found poetic lovers to sing 
their praises. But some of our sons have gone 
beyond home scenes, beyond Indiana, and 
touched and enriched wider fields. The Tale 
of the Christ, and The Flying Islands of the 
Night are visions of this wider field. 

It would require many pages even to give the 
names of the literary men and women of Indi- 
ana who are worthy to be remembered. Only a 
very few can here be mentioned. 

General Lew Wallace stands at the head of a 
very long list of Indiana writers. His Ben 
Hur brought him both fame and money. 
Few books have ever sold in so great number. 
It has been translated into many different lan- 
guages and is read in all parts of the world. 
It is a story of the Christ, and is for all times 
and all peoples. It is good to find in a hero so 
much of strength, gentleness, devotion, truth, 
and dignity as is found in Ben Hnr. We even 
admire his physical strength, developed under 
the toil of slavery. In the chariot race there 
is waiting a treat for those who have not read 
it, and those who have read delight to return 
and read again. It is a scene so wonderfully 
described that we feel to be in the real pres- 
ence, and it never grows old. General Wallace 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 177 

has also written the Fair God and the Prince of 
India. 

These would have made his name great 
among writers if he had written nothing else. 
But Ben Hnr is greater than either of these. 

The people who settled the valley of the 
Whitewater were superior men and women. 
They established splendid homes, from which 
have gone out many of the strong men and 
women of our state. In this valley 'were 
established the first churches of Indiana, and 
here the best elements of our civilization 
found footing. A very large number of the 
prominent people of Indiana have come from 
this valley, and of these many have come 
from Franklin County. It is a fitting place 
for greatness to be born. The mystic history 
of a primitive race of America hovers over 
the Whitewater. Her hills are capped by the 
remains of the lookout towers of this ancient 
people. Nowhere in the Ohio valley is there 
scenery more beautiful or more varied. The 
hills are crowned with the grandeur of age, 
poetry lingers in the wonderful sunsets, and 
the artist finds the rarest tints in the haze that 
hangs over the valleys and skirts the hills. In 
Brookville, in the valley of the Whitewater, the 
author of Ben Hnr was born, April 10, 1827, 
and here he spent the early years of his boy- 
hood. 



178 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

His father was a man of strong character 
and of much ability. He served both as Lieu- 
tenant Governor and as Governor of Indiana. 
He also served one term in Congress, and, 
strange as it seems to us now, was defeated for 
re-election because he voted for an appropria- 
tion to assist Professor Morse in testing his 
invention — the magnetic telegraph. 

As a boy General Wallace was not fond of 
school study, but took great delight in reading. 
The fields, the woods, and the hills were his 
close companions. Many days he spent among 
them, listening to their stories of love and 
beauty, and in reading to them and with them 
some favorite book. He read good books and 
many of them, or he could never have written 
as he has. Nature and good books are splen- 
did teachers. 

The writer of Ben Hnr became a soldier 
in the Mexican War at the age of eighteen. 
While a soldier in the City of Mexico, he first 
thought of writing the Fair God, though he 
did not finish it until 1874. At the close of the 
Mexican War he studied law, married, and 
settled down at Crawfordsville, Indiana, where 
he has since lived. 

At the opening of the Civil War, General 
Wallace immediately offered to Governor Mor- 
ton his services as a soldier. He was given com- 
mand of the Eleventh Regiment of Indiana and 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 179 

served throughout the war. He fought in Vir- 
ginia, was at Paducah and Fort Donelson 
commanded a division at the battle of Shiloh^ 
and was sent to guard the city of Cincinnati 
against attack from the Confederate army. 
The close of the war found him one of the 
prominent men of the Union he had fought so 
gallantly to preserve. 

In 1877 President Hayes appointed him 
Governor of New Mexico. In this position he 
proved himself a terror to the outlaws of this 
border territory. In the Governor's palace, in 
the quaint old city of Santa Fe\ Governor Wal- 
lace completed Ben Hur. When General 
Garfield came to the Presidency, he appointed 
him Minister to Turkey. As Minister, he was 
brought into touch with the Sultan, and they 
became close friends. The Sultan gave him 
access to the palace at all times. At the close 
of his term as Minister, the Sultan offered to 
give him any position he might choose, but the 
General declined his offer and returned to his 
home in Crawfordsville. His last book is the 
Prince of India. 

Near his home General Wallace has built 
him, after his own plans, a beautiful and roomy 
library. Here he keeps his books and his rich 
and curious collections. Here he reads, writes, 
smokes, and entertains his company. 

Capt. Lee O. Harris is not a native of Indi- 



180 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

ana, but he came to his adopted state when but 
a small boy, and here he has done his writing. 
He was born January 30, 1839, in Pennsylvania, 
where he spent his early boyhood very much 
as other boys. He attended school, worked in 
the fields, and roamed the hills as did the other 
boys of the neighborhood. But the woods, the 
fields, and the hills gave to him secrets that 
they withheld from the other boys. They 
spoke to him a voice the other boys could not 
understand. His ear was close to the heart of 
nature, and he heard and felt its beatings in 
harmony with his own life. He loved her and 
she taught him. To him there was music in 
the murmur of the brook and the singing of the 
birds ; there was beauty in the changing cloud 
and the blooming flower; there was wisdom in 
the rounded pebble and the unfolding bud ; and 
there was grandeur in the forest and in the 
gathering storm. 

At the age of thirteen, he moved with his 
parents to Franklin County, Indiana, where he 
spent five years in the midst of the natural 
splendor of this beautiful region. He enjoyed 
the scenes upon which the soul of Wallace had 
feasted in his boyhood days. Thus surrounded, 
before he was fifteen years of age, he began 
writing poems, which were published in the 
local papers. These early poems were full of 
music and were fresh with the fragrance of 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 181 

wild flowers and of new-mown hay. They gave 
fair promise of the better things which he was 
yet to write. 

At the age of eighteen, the future "School 
Master Poet" joined a party of United States 
engineers who were surveying a route through 
the mountains to Puget Sound. For one of his 
age, this was a rough service, but it proved to 
be a fruitful one. To sleep in the open air, 
sheltered only by the foliage of the trees, and 
be awakened by the first bird note of the morn- 
ing, was a new and delightful experience to 
him. The spirit of the mountains, of the 
scenery, and of the sunsets of that journey, 
has since been woven into his nature poems. 

He returned from the "Rainy Region of the 
North," and began teaching school at Foun- 
taintown, two miles distant from the "Little 
Town of Tail Holt." He was teaching when 
Sumter fell and President Lincoln called for 
volunteers. Mr. Harris responded to his 
country's first call, and became a soldier with 
Indiana's host of patriotic young men. He 
was under McClellan at Rich Mountain, was 
with Rosecrans in West Virginia, and with 
Thomas in Tennessee. For faithful service, he 
was promoted to the rank of major of the Indi- 
ana Legion. 

He re-entered the school room at the close of 
the war, and has since given almost all his time 



1 82 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

to school work. Most of the many years he has 
taught, his home has been in Greenfield, and 
much of his teaching has been done in the 
schools around the city. During the school 
term, he could be seen five days in each week, 
with cane in hand and with willow basket on 
his arm, on his way to his school. He was so 
regular and punctual in his journeys, that the 
farmers along the way declared with great 
emphasis that they regulated their clocks by 
his movements. He is now County Superin- 
tendent of his adopted county, Hancock. 

His poems that first attracted attention were 
written over the nom de plume oi Larry O'Han- 
negan. His published books are: Interludes 
and The Man Who Tramps. Interludes 
is a volume of his best poems, classed under 
the following heads: "Songs of Nature," 
"Home and Affection," "Retrospective," 
"Sorrow and Bereavement," "Flights of 
Fancy," "Echoes of War Time," and "Miscel- 
laneous." The Man Who Tramps is a story 
of tramp life, beautifully woven around a 
farmer boy, who, by unkind treatment, was 
driven to tramping. 

Captain Harris seldom writes to order or in 
a hurry. When he feels a desire to write, he 
closes the door of his study, and waits till all 
about the house have retired, then, in the still- 
ness of the night, he gives himself up to his 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 183 

work with no thought of time. His heart is 
kept young and kind through his great love 
for nature and his fellow man. There is not a 
nook or corner within a radius of five miles of 
his home that he has not explored. Within 
this scope there is not a plant or flower that he 
has not examined and classified. Choice 
flowers of his own tending fill his garden, 
cluster around his doors, and bloom about his 
windows. 

The pure and lofty spirit of his poems is but 
the spirit of the man himself. To know them 
well is to know the inner life of the author. 
To read them is to associate with him. He is 
quiet, kind, and retiring, is loyally devoted 
to his friends and appeals to the good in every 
one. 

James Whitcomb Riley is a native of Green- 
field, Indiana. Here he grew to manhood, 
surrounded by the people and scenes that his 
poetic genius has touched and made familiar. 
His father was a prominent attorney, who 
placed high estimate on education. He sent 
his son to school, but the young "Hoosier 
Poet" disliked to study. He especially dis- 
liked arithmetic. From his school room window 
he could look out upon the woods and fields, and 
they seemed to be inviting him to come. Out- 
side was the great wide world, which was to be 
his teacher, and he was restless under the rules 



1 84 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

of the school room. Not all the time he spent 
in school was given up to study, as his old 
text-books will show. Their margins and fly 
leaves are covered with weird pictures, drawn 
by him to illustrate the strange visions that 
were then passing through his brain. 

He quit school altogether at the age of fif- 
teen. His father wanted him to attend college, 
but the young poet asked permission to learn 
the painter's trade instead. His father finally 
consented, and placed him in charge of an 
instructor. He had already displayed con- 
siderable skill in drawing, as was shown by 
his school books and his neighbors' barns. 
In the barns of the neighborhood he conducted 
Saturday circuses, in which he was chief 
tumbler, ring-master, clown, and sketch artist 
all in one. At the close of his first week as a 
student of painting, his father was informed 
by his instructor that the pupil had already 
surpassed his master as an artist. 

One year of his life Riley spent on the road 
with a patent-medicine man. They traveled 
from town to town, where Riley served as a 
sort of clown to attract and hold the crowd. 
Upon the blackboard which they carried with 
them, he would illustrate the wonderful quali- 
ties of the medicine with crayon sketches and 
quaint sayings. 

He grew tired of this kind of freedom and 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 185 

began editing a county newspaper. He said 
that he strangled this poor little thing to death 
in less than six months. He then began writing 
poetry for the magazines, but he declared 
that more manuscripts were returned to him 
than he had sent out, so he gave that up. On 
the advice of a friend, he tried prose, with no 
better success. He again tried poetry, and 
success came sure and rapid. His first success 
was with the Indianapolis Journal. Soon 
afterward he moved to Indianapolis, and has 
since made that city his home. 

He is still the "Hoosier Poet," but his fame 
has gone out beyond the Atlantic, where his 
poems are read and praised. His deep sym- 
pathy for all grades and conditions of human 
life has made it possible for him to reach many 
hearts. The children are his friends, for he 
has entered into their joys and sorrows, and has 
made them plain to older people. The 
Raggedy Man has become a real man in the 
child-world which he has so enriched and 
beautified. The titles and characters of many 
of his poems have become household words, 
and many of his odd sayings have entered per- 
manently into our language. 

The list of his writings is very long, and 
includes both prose and poetry. Some of the 
latest are: Afterwhiles, Arrnazindy, Child- 
World, Flying Islands of the Night, Doc 



1 86 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Sifers, Rhymes of Childhood, and Poems 
Here at Home. As in almost everything 
else, he is peculiar in his manner of writ- 
ing. He writes only when he feels so inclined. 
Sometimes he will sketch a poem while riding 
in a car, and sometimes, forgetful of the meal, 
will throw off a poem or a sketch while sitting 
at the table. He wrote When the Frost Is on 
the Pumpkin while standing at the printer's 
case. 

Mr. Riley's heart is still warm towards the 
scenes and companions of his boyhood days. 
Every intimate friend at Greenfield is remem- 
bered when Riley publishes a new book. Every 
year he visits his old home, and the boys of the 
Old SwimmirC Hole are still his compan- 
ions. They wander together around the 
familiar places, about which still linger pleas- 
ant memories. If one of the old crowd falls, 
Mr. Riley is sure to send some token of 
remembrance. If one is in distress, he quietly 
sends relief. His largeness of heart is not 
more fully shown in his highest poems than in 
his attitude toward his early friends, most of 
whom live humbly. 

Maurice Thompson was born at Fairfield, 
Franklin County, Indiana, in 1844. His father 
lived on a farm, and here the son was brought 
into immediate touch with nature. While 
Maurice was but a small boy his parents 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 187 

removed to Kentucky, from there to Ten- 
nessee, and finally settled in Georgia. He was 
educated by a private tutor and through his 
outdoor life, where he gathered lessons from 
living things as well as from books. He is 
equally learned in books and things. He 
draws upon his rich store of language to express 
in the most beautiful manner the things he has 
learned in the study of nature. The inhabit- 
ants of the rivers, fields, and forests are his 
friends, and of these he has written freely, tell- 
ing their most sacred secrets. His Sylvan 
Secrets and Byways and Bird Notes are 
overflowing with a fragrance and a music found 
only where flowers bloom and birds sing wild 
in the open air. 

Lew Wallace and Maurice Thompson were 
both born in the same county, and at the 
beginning of the Civil War both enlisted in the 
army — one to fight for the North, the other for 
the South. 

After the close of the war, Mr. Thompson 
returned to Indiana, and settled in Crawfords- 
ville, where he and General Wallace became 
neighbors. He was at one time a member of 
the Indiana Legislature, and also served as 
State Geologist. He is a lawyer by profession, 
and writes mostly because of the pleasure it 
gives him. It seems quite as easy for him to 
express himself in poetry as in prose. How- 



1 88 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

ever, even his prose is musical with poetry. 
He has read widely, is acquainted with a num- 
ber of languages, and has a choice vocabulary 
with which he expresses himself simply but 
elegantly. Probably no other Indiana author 
is so scholarly as he. He has the rare gift of 
seeing directly into the heart of things, so, 
when he writes, he tells of the things hidden 
from the common eye. 

During the past few years, his literary work 
has taken much of his time. His winters he 
usually spends in the south, and lately his work 
on the editorial staff of the New Yo?'k Independ- 
ent has kept him in the east during the 
summer. Among the books he has published 
are: Byways and Bird Notes, Sylvan Secrets, 
The Story of Louisiana, and Stories of Indiana. 

Benjamin S. Parker was born in Henry 
County, sixty-five years ago. A lofty spirit 
fills everything he writes. He touches the 
common things and they become strong and 
beautiful. He always waits to serve rather 
than to be served. Though he is most widely 
known through his poetry, he has also written 
well and much more extensively in prose. 
Besides his literary work, he has done many 
other things. He was reared on a farm and 
shared in its labors; has been a teacher, a 
merchant and an editor and has had some- 
thing to do with politics. He was a presi- 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 189 

denlial elector on the Garfield and Arthur 
ticket in 1880. When Mr. Arthur became 
President, he appointed Mr. Parker consul at 
Sherbrooke, Canada. In 1886 he was elected 
clerk of the circuit court of his native county, 
retiring from office in 1892 with a wide circle 
of friends. 

Mr. Parker has published four volumes of 
poetry, three of which, The Cabin in the 
Clearing, TJie Hoosier Bards and The Rhymes 
of Our Neighborhood, are still in print. His 
most popular, though not always his best 
poems, are those descriptive of pioneer life in 
which is expressed the rich simple life of the 
country folk — a life in which we all feel akin. 
The Hoosier Bards is a poem, or series of short 
poems, descriptive of our native birds, which 
many critics have pronounced his best work. 

In reading these poems it is easy to know 
that the author has seen through friendly eyes, 
and has felt with a kindly heart. The critic o-f 
The Indianapolis News says of two of his 
poems, that The Building of the Monument is 
the finest heroic poem ever written in the state, 
and that ' Tis Morning and the Days Are 
Long is as fine a lyric as the language con- 
tains — an opinion which has been re-echoed by 
competent authorities, east and west. 

Mr. Parker, Captain Harris and James 
Whitcomb Riley, are fast friends of many years' 



19° YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

standing; each of whom has expressed over 
and over again his admiration of and respect 
for the others. 

Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton was one of the pioneer 
Avriters of Indiana. She was born in Newport, 
Kentucky, December 18, 1814. When she was 
but a few years old, her father moved to the 
wilderness of Indiana, where all the household 
joined in making a home. The father was 
anxious to educate his children, but there were 
no schools near. His desire to see his children 
educated grew so strong that he sold his farm 
and moved to Madison. 

Mrs. Bolton was then ten years of age. She 
soon began writing poems, which found their 
way into the local papers and attracted much 
attention. At the age of seventeen, she was 
married, and went with her husband to Indian- 
apolis, which was then a small town. Misfor- 
tune overtook them, and to save their home, 
they kept tavern nine years, where now stands 
the Central Insane Hospital. Part of the time 
during these years, she performed all the 
duties about the tavern with her own hands. 
During these long, hard years, her pen was 
idle, but when brighter days came to her home 
she again took up her writing. 

Her husband became State Librarian in 
1847, and Mrs. Bolton was his assistant. In 
this position she read and wrote a great deal. 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 191 

Her husband was afterward appointed consul 
at Geneva, and this gave her wide opportuni- 
ties for study. For two years she traveled in 
Europe, then returned to Indianapolis, more 
than ever in love with her own country and 
the state of her father's adoption. Few poems 
breathe a higher spirit of patriotism than Mrs. 
Bolton's Indiana. 

In 1880, Mrs. Bolton published a collection 
of her poems in one large volume, and later a 
smaller collection of her selected poems was 
published. Her best known poem is Paddle 
Your Own Canoe, which grew out of her life 
of struggle. Every boy and girl of Indiana 
should commit at least the last stanza of this 
battle hymn of life : 

Nothing great is lightly won ; 

Nothing won is lost; 
Every good deed, nobly done, 

Will repay the cost. 
Leave to Heaven in humble trust 

All you will to do ; 
But if you succeed, you must 

Paddle your own canoe. 

The greatest Indiana name in the field of 
history is that of John Clark Ridpath. He was 
born in a log cabin in Putnam County, Indi- 
ana, in 1840. While a boy, he worked on a 
farm, and attended school in the country. The 
school house was made of logs, was supplied 



192 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

with pioneer furniture, and was reached by a 
forest path. While a student in Asbury (now 
De Pauw) University, he wrote a number of 
poems and essays of high rank. Soon after his 
graduation he was elected Professor of English 
Literature in the college from which he gradu- 
ated. Two years later he was given the chair 
of history, which position he held until a few 
years ago. 

He has written and published almost forty 
volumes of history. His best known works are : 
Grammar School History, Academic History 
of the United States, Life and Work of Garfield, 
Great Races of Mankind, and History of the 
World. It is an unusual thing to find in the 
historian so much of the poet. He takes the 
common facts of history, and so clothes them 
that they become interesting to us. He makes 
history read like a story. Mr. Ridpath now 
spends most of his time in the east, where he 
is editing a magazine. 

Edward Eggleston was born at Vevay, Indi- 
ana, but has done his writing since leaving 
his native state. His early writings were in 
the field of fiction, but lately he has turned to 
history, in which he seems to be equally great. 
His last book is The Beginners of a Nation, 
which is the first volume of a series he is 
preparing. To this series of books, he is giv- 
ing much time and effort. The material for 



HISTORY, SONG AND STORY. 193 

the Circuit Rider, Hoosier School Master, 
and. the Hoosier School Boy was gathered from 
Indiana. 

Joaquin Miller is another Indianian who has 
gained fame abroad in the field of letters. He 
was born in Franklin County in 184 1. When 
thirteen years of age, he moved with his par- 
ents to Oregon. He has written both in prose 
and in poetry, and all he has written is full of 
the mountains and the sea. Some of his prose 
writings are: The Baroness of New York, The 
Danites of the Sierras, Shadows of Shasta, and 
The Gold Seekers of the Sierras. Among his 
books of poetry are Songs of the Sierras, 
Songs of the Sun lands, Songs of the Desert, 
Songs of Italy, Collected Poems, and Songs of 
the Mexican Seas, 



194 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



XIV 

From Pack- Horse to Palace-Car. 



THE trails and river courses led the early 
settlers into the Northwest, and afterward 
brought to them articles to supply their simple 
wants. By these trails and rivers, all the 
movements of the pioneers were guided. By 
the trails, the pack-horse threaded his way into 
the wilderness with supplies for the pioneer 
stores. Upon the bosom of the rivers was also 
borne the scanty commerce of the scattered 
settlements. Supplies for the first settlers 
were brought overland from Virginia and the 
Carolinas on pack-horses, or down the Ohio 
River in flatboats. Over these same routes 
Uncle Sam sent mail to the people living on 
the outskirts of civilization. 

The first settlements were made alcng the 
Wabash and the Ohio. The pioneers then 
made their way slowly along the banks of their 
tributaries, and formed settlements farther 
inland. It was a long time before settlements 
were established far away from the water 
courses. The rivers thus became the natural 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 195 



outlet of the settlers. Flatboats were built in 
summer on the smaller rivers, then loaded with 
the produce of the country. When the freshets 
came, and the waters were high, these boats 
were pushed off into the streams and carried 




down into the Ohio, and out into the Mississippi 
down to New Orleans. Oftentimes, the 
Indians watched on the river banks and 
attacked the boats as they floated by. 

The first flatboats were small, rudely put 
together, and were simply furnished. These 



196 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

gave way for larger ones with better equip- 
ments. As the settlements grew in size and 
number, commerce became more important, 
and boats increased in number. Besides the 
flatboats, there were keel boats and barges. 
Barge was the dignified name for a keel boat 
that was covered with a house-like roof. The 
keel boats and barges ascended as well as 
descended the rivers, but the flatboats only 
made the downward voyage. At the end of the 
trip they were torn up and sold for lumber. 

Sometimes a fleet of fifty or sixty of these 
boats, loaded with hay, wheat, corn, hogs, 
cattle, horses, and tan-bark, floated down the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers together. To the 
dwellers along the rivers such a fleet must 
have presented a beautiful picture as it quietly 
moved with the waters toward the gulf. In 
places, the forest grew to the river's edge, and 
the trees dipped their branches in the water. 
Again the prairies rolled away and lost them- 
selves beyond the horizon. Deer, grazing 
along the banks, raised their heads, looked at 
the silent moving fleet, then trotted away into 
the woods. On the prairies the buffalo grazed 
undisturbed, and flocks of river birds looked 
inquiringly at this greater flock of larger birds. 
Such were the surroundings of the commercial 
beginnings of the Northwest. In these early 
fleets were the hopes of an earnest people and 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 197 

the promises of the greater commerce that 
would so soon fill the large merchant vessels of 
the ocean and find its way to the cities of all 
the civilized peoples of the world. 

Many of the emigrants came to the land of 
their new homes in flatboats. The stock was 
placed on the open deck at one end of the boat, 
and at the other end a rough cabin was built 
for the families of the pioneers. When they 
reached the place selected for their homes, 
and had no further use for their boats, their 
lumber was used in building the cabin homes, 
and in furnishing them with chairs, tables and 
beds. 

As settlements pushed farther into the 
interior, they were connected with other settle- 
ments by roads cut through the wilderness. It 
was difficult to travel over these new-made 
roads, even with ox-teams. The timber and 
brush were removed, but the stumps were left 
standing.. The soil was rich and undrained. 
The water collected in the hollows, and the 
travel made mudholes, through which a strong 
team could scarcely pull an empty wagon. 
After a while, the worst places were bridged 
with corduroy, which is made by laying logs, 
rails or poles side by side in the mud. This 
kind of roads kept the wagons above ground, 
but the corduroy was so rough that one could 
scarcely remain in the wagon while driving over 



198 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

it. On the main highways, the corduroy gave 
place to plank roads. These were made of broad 
planks, from two to four inches in thickness, 
laid side by side. These roads were broad 
enough only for a single team, but wooden 
turnouts were made along the road where 
teams could pass. There were still no bridges, 
and streams were crossed by means of fords 
and ferries. The ferries were often kept by 
quaint people, who entertained their customers 
with wonderful stories of their pioneer experi- 
ence at the ferry. The Legislature early 
passed a law permitting men to form private 
companies for the purpose of building plank 
roads and turnpikes. This law greatly aided 
in giving better roads to Indiana. 

Road-making through the wilderness was a 
slow and difficult task. Many of the inland 
settlements had no outlets for their meager 
produce, nor could they easily communicate 
with the outside world. They grew anxious 
for better and quicker means of communication. 
They wanted better roads, and also desired to 
have the chief settlements and the chief rivers 
of the whole state connected by a system of 
canals. They knew the value of these, and 
were willing to be taxed to pay for their con- 
struction. 

Two years after Indiana became a state, her 
leading men began to discuss the question of 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 199 

canals and better roads. The Governor said 
that upon a system of good roads and canals 
depended the progress of the state and of civili- 
zation. Each year the people grew more in 
earnest, till, in 1832, a great system of internal 
improvements was undertaken. It was 
unwisely managed, and failed before the work 
was completed, but it was the beginning out of 
which greater things grew. Part of the work 
planned and undertaken by the state was after- 
ward completed by private companies. 

It was planned to connect the different parts 
of the state and the Ohio River with a system 
of canals. Under the plan, the chief towns of 
the state were to be joined by plank and gravel 
roads, and the central part of the state was to 
have swift outlet by means of railroads. The 
waters of the Great Lakes were to be poured 
into the waters of the Ohio, and Indiana was 
to be covered with a network of waterways, 
pikes and railroads. It was wisely planned, 
but was too expensive, and was given up by 
the state in 1839, after part of the work had 
been completed. 

Indianapolis was to be connected with Lafay- 
ette by a gravel road seventy miles in length ; 
Vincennes and New Albany were to be joined 
by a pike one hundred and five miles long ; and 
a public highway one hundred and sixty-four 
miles lung was to connect Crawfordsville and 



200 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

Jeffersonville. Indianapolis and the Ohio River 
were to be connected at Madison by a railroad 
eighty miles in length. The Wabash and Erie 
canal was to be constructed from Toledo, Ohio, 
to the mouth of the Tippecanoe River, then 
down the valleys of Wabash and White rivers 
to the Ohio, at Evansville. The central canal 
was to reach from the Wabash and Erie, from 
Logansport through Indianapolis, and join it 
again at Point Commerce, in White River 
valley. A cross canal was to connect the cen- 
tral with the Wabash and Erie at Terre Haute. 
Lake Erie and Lake Michigan were to be joined 
by a canal crossing the northern part of the 
state. The Whitewater canal was to be con- 
structed from Lawrenceburg to Hagerstown. 
The whole system embraced more than twelve 
hundred miles. 

It was a dream of Washington to connect 
Lake Erie with the Ohio River and mingle the 
waters of the Great Lakes with those of the 
Gulf of Mexico. A half century after his 
death, his dream was fulfilled in the completion 
of the Wabash and Erie canal. This canal was 
then the longest artificial waterway in the world, 
being 459 miles in length. Its completion 
marked a new era in the progress of Indiana. 
Along its course are many of the best cities, 
and much of their early progress was due to the 
canal. The first section of the canal, thirty- 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 201 

two miles long, was finished July 4, 1835, and 
the day was celebrated with unusual earnest- 
ness. After the state gave up the work, Con- 
gress voted part of the government's public 
lands to complete this canal. The land appro- 




ON THE TOW-PATH. 



priated by Congress amounted to 3,200 acres 
for each mile of the canal. By this means the 
whole canal was completed in 1853, and the 
dream of Washington was realized. 

The contract for the Whitewater canal was 
let and the work begun in 1836. The day on 



202 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

which the first ground was broken for this 
canal was set apart for a fitting celebration at 
Brookville. Eloquent and distinguished speak- 
ers were secured for the occasion, the people of 
the Whitewater country came together, and in 
the midst of oratory and the firing of cannon, 
the first step was taken in the construction of 
the Whitewater canal. It was a day full of 
promise for the town of Brookville, nestling 
among the hills, almost shut in from the world 
outside. In three years the canal was com- 
pleted as far as Brookville. On June 8, 1839, 
the first canal boat was drawn into the town 
where the ground was first broken for the 
canal. It was the "Ben Franklin," and was 
greeted with wild enthusiasm. Six years 
later, "The Patriot," the first boat, reached 
Connersville. 

In 1847, a freshet so damaged the canal that 
it cost $100,000 to repair it. The next year a 
second freshet, almost as destructive as the first 
one, followed, and the usefulness of the canal 
was destroyed. The enterprise that promised 
so much for this part of the state ended in an 
early failure. 

The first railroad built in Indiana is the one 
from the city of Madison to Indianapolis. By 
this road, the capital of the state was given a 
direct route to the Ohio River. It was begun 
in 1836 and completed in 1847. The steepest 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 203 

railroad grade in the state is the one where 
this road leads down into Madison. An engine 
of immense size is required to push the trains 
up this grade. The engine is so large and 
heavy that it was necessary to make the track of 
extra strength to bear its weight without 
danger. 

Before the time of canals and railroads, 
caravan routes were established between the 
central part of the state, and supplied with 
clumsy wagons. Sometimes they were drawn 
by oxen, but usually by four or six horses. 
The roads were so bad that a great deal of time 
was consumed in going a short distance. When 
moving the state capital from Corydon to 
Indianapolis, in 1825, the teams traveled only 
twelve miles a day. 

Very early in our state's history, steamboats 
began carrying commerce on the Ohio. They 
were swift and strong, and, as they increased 
in number, crowded out the slow-moving flat- 
boat. The steamboats could not navigate the 
smaller rivers, so the flatboats continued to 
carry the commerce from the interior down the 
tributaries of the large rivers. Later, the 
railroads came and crowded them off the 
inland rivers. The canal boats shared the same 
fate. About the time the canals were finished 
and began proving their usefulness, they were 
supplanted by railroads. The plodding mule 



204 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

gave way to the iron horse, and the railway 
train took the place of the canal boat. 

The ' ' New Orleans' ' was the first steamboat on 
the Ohio. It was launched at Pittsburg in 
1811. From the Smoky City, it made its way 
down to Louisville, and stopped after dark. 
By its puffing, beating the water, and the 
sparks flying from its huge smokestack, it 
greatly frightened the people. They thought a 
meteor had fallen into the river and was caus- 
ing all the disturbance. 

As it proudly cut the water on its way to 
New Orleans, the people of the towns along the 
way gazed upon it with wondering eyes. The 
Indians came out of the woods to see the mon- 
ster that made the forests tremble with its 
hoarse bellowing. Some of them fired upon it 
as it passed, and at one time it was chased 
by a canoe filled with warriors. There was 
great anxiety on board the "New Orleans" 
as the light canoe of the Indians skimmed 
the waters in pursuit. All the members of 
the boat's crew were at their places, the 
furnaces were filled to their fullest, and the 
engines snorted as if they scented danger. 
Every effort was made to outstrip the Indians. 
For a time, it was an even race, but steam 
proved stronger than muscle, and the red men 
were beaten. 

While the "New Orleans" was making her 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 205 

first trip down the Ohio and Mississippi, there 
occurred an earthquake at New Madrid, a town 
on the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio. 
The sky was red and hazy, the earth quaked 
and trembled, and the waters of the Mississippi 
were greatly disturbed. When the people of 
the earthquake region saw the "New Orleans" 
sending up clouds of smoke and streams of 
fire, watched her pounding the water into a 
foam, and heard her hoarse whistle, they said 
that the steamboat had caused the earthquake. 
The people on the boat were frightened quite 
as much as those on the shore. They had felt 
the repeated shocks of the earthquake, and the 
pilot found the bed of the river so changed 
by the upheaval of the land that he lost 
his way, and it looked as if the boat would be 
wrecked. 

Each day the crew went ashore for fuel. 
Sometimes they obtained coal, but more fre- 
quently they were compelled to cut wood from 
the forest to furnish steam for the following 
day. Other boats followed the "New 
Orleans," until the sound of their whistles is 
now as familiar along the large rivers as is the 
chatter of the wren, or the "bob-white" of the 
quail in Indiana. 

For many years before the building of rail- 
roads, the chief mode of traveling in Indiana 
was by stage. Stage lines were established on 



206 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

the principal roads through the most thickly 
settled parts of the state. The stage-coach 
was passenger, baggage, and mail coach all in 
one. It was provided with three seats, each 
of which would accommodate three people. 
When it was crowded, one person could find a 
seat on top of the stage by the driver. In fair 
weather this was the choice seat. It was an 
excellent lookout station, and then the one 
riding by the driver could hear the stories of 
his rough life. The top of the coach was 
arranged for carrying baggage and mail. The 
coaches were frequently painted with showy 
colors, but their rough journeys soon made 
them look old and dingy. 

The arrival of the stage was the most impor- 
tant event in the life of the little towns along 
the route. A blast from the driver's horn 
notified the waiting passengers of his coming, 
and aroused the people, who came out to see. 
The mail bag was handed down to the post- 
master, who emptied it upon the floor of his 
office, and, while the stage waited, selected 
the mail that belonged to his office. The 
remainder was then returned to the bag and 
given back to the driver, who cracked his long 
whip and was quickly off on his journey. 

Stage driving was rough and dangerous 
work, and required men who were rugged and 
brave. Along the way there were wild places 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE-CAR. 207 

where dark deeds had been done by bold high- 
waymen. To protect the passengers and their 
property, the drivers were always armed. The 
stage must go, however rough or cold the 
weather. At one of the stations on the Old 
National Road, a team turned into the stable 
at the end of the route, one cold night, with 
the driver still at his post, but dead from 
the cold. 

The coach was drawn by four horses, which 
the driver handled with the skill of an ancient 
charioteer. Through deep mud and along 
dangerous ways, he guided his team slowly in 
the safest places, then, where the roads were 
good, with dash and daring, he urged on his 
horses at breakneck speed. The teams were 
changed at stations ten or twelve miles apart. 
A blast from the driver's horn was the signal 
to bring out the waiting team. The Change 
was quickly made, and the stage was soon 
rumbling on. 

Before the coming of railroads, the stock 
raised in some parts of the state was driven to 
market. In the early days, hogs were the 
chief live-stock, and to drive them through an 
unfenced wilderness across unbridged streams, 
to a market a hundred miles away, was a 
troublesome, but an interesting, task. The 
hogs ran wild in the woods and fattened on 
the mast. Little account was taken of them 



208 YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 

until the farmers were ready to market them. 
The stock-buyer came around, as he now does, 
and arranged with each farmer to deliver his 
hogs on a certain day at the place of weighing. 
Each man knew his own by a certain ear-mark 
he had made with a knife while they were pigs. 
Even by the aid of dogs, it was not easy to get 
them away from the woods where they had fed 
and slept. 

There was much fun and more labor at the 
place where the hogs were delivered. Each 
hog must be caught, placed in the harness pro- 
vided for such occasions, and weighed on a 
large pair of steelyards. The hogs ranged 
from one to three years of age. The old ones 
were armed with long tusks, and when angry 
were very dangerous opponents. When one 
was caught, he sounded the alarm, and it fre- 
quently happened that his friends and relatives 
came to his assistance. When a charge of this 
kind was made, it required a number of per- 
sons to beat them off. These hogs were little 
like the ones now fatted on corn and clover, 
hauled to town in wagons, and shipped away 
on fast-moving freight trains. They were 
hogs suited to the conditions of their time. 
They were long of wind and leg and snout, and 
never grew too fat to drive. 

After a drove of sufficient size had been col- 
lected, they were started to market, driven by 



FROM PACK-HORSE TO PALACE CAR. 209 

a number of men and dogs. Sometimes on 
the way, a number of them would take to the 
woods, and much time and patience would be 
expended before they were captured and 
returned to the drove. Again, some one with 
head and legs of unusual length, would dash 
into the forest, escape both dogs and men, and 
become a real bushwhacker. The drovers 
usually stopped for the night at the -taverns 
scattered along the way. They were tired and 
muddy. Their clothing fared the same whether 
there was rain or shine. They must chase the 
hogs through the swamps and capture them 
covered with mud, and many times were com- 
pelled to drag numbers of them across the 
streams. After supper was over, and all the 
incidents of the day had been recounted, the 
tired drovers would wash their muddy clothes 
and hang them up to dry, then retire to rest for 
the drive of the following day. 

The pack-horse, the caravan wagon, and the 
stage-coach have gone. The canals have been 
abandoned, and the barges and flatboats have 
been driven from our rivers. The shout of the 
drover is no longer heard. These have given 
way to better things. The steamboats have 
been perfected in strength, speed and beauty. 
The state is covered with a network of rail- 
roads. The primitive trains that stopped the 
stage-coach and canal -boat, have given place to 



2IO 



YOUNG FOLKS' INDIANA. 



fast freights and moving palaces. Express 
lines have been established, and the telegraph 
and telephone are a part of our daily lives. 
What will follow next? 




